Atypical Truth

Outtakes from last week's episode with Randy Stearns to discuss marriage, friendships, and their chosen family.

This is a special Afterthoughts Outtakes episode with Randy Stearns (husband to Erica, host, and father to Margot and Caratacus) hitting the highlights of topics not included in the previous week's episode.

For time’s sake, some really great clips just didn’t make the cut in last week’s episode. Packaged up nicely into this episode, Randy and Erica reminisce about how they met and how silly they were to think everything would be so easy. Randy shares more about his childhood, his career in veterinary medicine, and how these things intertwine unexpectedly. They talk about the surprise blessing of sharing their home with so many professionals who were once strangers but soon came to feel like family. Randy reveals his reluctance to join the social media support groups that Erica found comfort in. Instead, he provides insight into his friends' support for him and the friendships they formed at the start of their journey.

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Music by amiina

Cover art by Kendall Bell

Randy Stearns, husband to Erica and father to Margot and Caratacus, joins as a guest on this episode to share his perspective of life in the shoes of a father, caregiver, and "dadvocate". 

We often hear a mother's perspective when it comes to these topics, so it was nice to hear Randy elaborate on his experience, his struggles, the things that have helped him cope, the way he and Erica have changed, what has brought him comfort, and his hopes for the future.

Be sure to visit our Website for transcription and  Shop for Atypical Truth swag!

Music by amiina

Cover art by Kendall Bell

Erica Stearns details the unexpected healing she gained through sharing her story on the Atypical Truth podcast.

To honor last week’s theme of “Unexpected Healing,” Erica shares with you about the unexpected healing she has experienced thanks to this podcast. In this episode, Erica reads two sections of my thesis, two stories that exemplify this process of healing she experienced. These two stories offer two very different personal experiences, one representing her entry into her role as medical mom/caregiver and one which details where she has landed and where she wants to go from here! Erica felt that sharing her story so publicly would lead to a connection with her community, but she didn't fully anticipate gaining a new sense of confidence and respect with their care team.

Be sure to visit our Website for transcription and Shop for Atypical Truth swag!

Music by amiina

Cover art by Kendall Bell

Dr. Aline Tanios and Erica Stearns share how they experienced healing in unexpected ways through a rare disease and a cancer diagnosis. Erica discusses how she found healing through the birth of her second child with a rare disease. Dr. Tanios details how she found healing through a scary and unexpected diagnosis.

I am excited and honored to have Dr. Tanios back for another episode. Dr. Tanois is a mother of four, a wife, a daughter, and a sister to many. She is a giver. She thrives on bringing joy to others, and she does this all while working through her own struggles, hardships, and victories. This episode is titled “Unexpected Healing” for a reason. In this episode, we both share how we experienced healing in unexpected ways. For myself, I found healing through the birth of my second child, but it was for opposite reasons than what I had assumed I would experience healing. Dr. Tanios found healing through a scary and unexpected diagnosis.

In the episode, you will hear more about this and the support she found within her own community. I finally got to ask her about the extraordinary lengths she went to when she found out that we were sitting in the NICU with Caratacus, fearful that we might never be able to take him home. She tells us more about the role her children play in being a part of her team, and she provides us all with some encouraging and beneficial advice when it comes to caring for our medically complex kids but also caring for ourselves.

Be sure to visit our Website for transcription and our Shop for Atypical Truth swag!

Music by amiina

Cover art by Kendall Bell

Erica Stearns and Bridget Ryan get downright personal about their struggles and childhood experiences that shaped them. 

In this Afterthoughts episode, Erica Stearns and Bridget Ryan (@bridget.grows) discuss their struggles with mental health, feelings of failure surrounding mental health treatment, and lack of access to mental health treatment in a rural community.

Neither Bridget nor Erica are mental health professionals; they share their own opinions and experiences, which may not reflect the views and experiences of many others. Atypical Truth believes that people deserve a safe space to discuss their struggles because there might be another person out there who feels the same way - and we want them to know that they are not alone. So this may not be relevant to everyone, but we do hope it is helpful to someone.

Be sure to visit our Website for transcription and Shop for Atypical Truth swag!

Music by amiina

Cover art by Kendall Bell

Bridget and Erica are creative, warm-hearted friends. They are passionate about the arts, humanity, and exploring vulnerability together.

Meet Bridget Ryan, Erica's gal-pal, expert friend, and touted sounding board. They are both lovers of snail mail, handmade tokens of love, evenings spent outside with the company of quality conversations, and moody music. They differ in many ways, which has made for a friendship that inspires growth from each other. They seek knowledge and insight, inviting one another in without judgment.

Be sure to visit our Website for transcription and Shop for Atypical Truth swag!

Music by amiina

Cover art by Kendall Bell

A bold reflection on life as a sibling to a child with a rare disease and the impact it can have on the family unit - with home health Nurse Kaylee Sutton.

Home health nurse, Kaylee Sutton, and medical-mom, Erica Stearns, revisit subjects that were previously glossed over, subjects that are personal and often very difficult to navigate. After hearing the other guests on Atypical Truth, listening to her own episode, and then after some private conversations with her family, Kaylee expressed her desire to revisit some of these topics in this afterthoughts session because she felt like she was being too careful, too gentle, and not quite as bold and brave as she wanted to be in sharing her Atypical Truth.

Erica refers to her experience in sharing a complicated aspect of her own life as a guest on her friend Madeline’s rare disease podcast called The Rare Life, which also aired last week. So if you have not yet listened to those episodes, we highly encourage you to do that. They both contain many details that Kaylee and Erica touch on in this Afterthoughts session.

There are a lot of sensitive subjects that we do a deep dive into today, but again, that is the point of this show - so please listen with an open mind and an open heart - and enjoy!

Be sure to visit our Website for transcription and Shop for Atypical Truth swag!

Music by amiina

Cover art by Kendall Bell

Kaylee Sutton shares her experience as a proud big sister and how her natural tendency to care for her siblings led her to become a home health nurse.

In this week’s episode, we hear from our home health nurse, Kaylee. Kaylee describes that her experience living an Atypical Life started at a very young age when her baby brother developed a seizure disorder. She shares her expertise in navigating this as a proud big sister and how her natural tendency to care for her siblings led her into nursing and our home.

Kaylee was one of the first people I interviewed long before the podcast released a single episode. She was delighted to join me but also very nervous. After hearing the other guests on my show, listening to the preview of her own episode, and then after some personal conversations with her family, she expressed her desire to revisit some of these topics in next week’s afterthoughts episode because she felt like she was being too careful, too gentle, and not quite as bold and brave as she wanted to be in sharing her Atypical Truth.

Be sure to visit our Website for transcription and Shop for Atypical Truth swag!

Music by amiina

Cover art by Kendall Bell

This week I will be doing things a little bit differently because I have many announcements I’d like to share with everyone - some changes and some exciting news for the future of Atypical Truth. Some of you may know this podcast started as a component of a thesis research project that I’m doing. It was my plan from the beginning to continue to sustain this podcast after my research was complete, and I had some evolving ideas on how that would look. This episode is dedicated to sharing more about what future seasons of Atypical Truth will look and sound like. Podcasts mentioned in this episode: This American Life, My Favorite Murder, This is Love & Criminal 

Music by amiina 

Cover art by Kendall Bell @littlebellin

Be sure to visit Atypical Truth’s new merch mentioned in this episode: https://linktr.ee/atypicaltruth

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/atypicaltruth/support

Erica Stearns examines how ableism, social inequalities, and resource disparities impact people with disabilities.

Our last few guests on Atypical Truth touched on subjects like resource disparity, advocacy, and social inequalities. I feel very passionate about these topics and could discuss them at length. But it is different from talking about these subjects with my friends as opposed to on air and in such a public manner. I am not a public speaker, and I constantly live with the fear of saying something wrong. Still, these topics are more important than my fears, and I feel like now is the time to use this platform to educate and hopefully encourage everyone listening to feel as passionately about these issues as I do.

Disability, Ableism, & Racism - Podcast Recommendation: Be Antiracist with Ibram X. Kendra

Ableism - Blog Mention: Rea Strawhill @rea.strawhill 

Inspiration Porn: Stella Young

Other Disability Activism accounts to follow: @neurodivergentactivist @theheumannperspective @emilyladau @disabilityreframed@talilalewis @nina_tame @livingwithclarity@chronically_ry @ibramxk @disabilityinsight

Be sure to visit our Website for transcription and Shop for Atypical Truth swag!

Music by amiina

Cover art by Kendall Bell