Don't Forget To Breathe: A Podcast for Living after Child Loss.

We begin Season 2 by adding a very special co-host, Rena Ooi, a Certified Grief Specialist. Rena has walked in your shoes in a powerful way. She will share her story in Season 2, Episode 7.
In this Preview, we talk about some of the subjects we will discuss this season and how we hope to help you navigate your grief and recovery.

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This will be a really short chat; I didn’t plan on doing an episode for a couple of weeks, but this thought popped up and I wanted to share it. This will be short, but hopefully, you will find something in it that might help. The big theme of my New Year’s Message…YOU MADE IT!

Support the show

Help keep the Don’t Forget To Breathe podcast going. Become a supporter today and be part of the movement to bring light, connection, and hope to those living with loss. Follow this link to become a Supporter:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1376761/support

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In the midst of the Holidays, The First Time Since talks about those events, favorite places and special occasions that we experience for the first time since losing a child, or anyone close to us. Simply living life day by day will reveal moments of remembrance that can trigger sorrow, pain, anger and more. But this can feel overwhelming during the Holiday season. If only to know that you are not alone with your avalanche of emotions, maybe this episode will give you a glimmer of connection with another grieving parent.

Support the show

Help keep the Don’t Forget To Breathe podcast going. Become a supporter today and be part of the movement to bring light, connection, and hope to those living with loss. Follow this link to become a Supporter:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1376761/support

Get in touch

I believe that during the course of our lives, both individually and collectively, our daily activities, experiences and relationships are woven together to eventually form an amazing and complex tapestry; our very own life’s tapestry. A tapestry is made up of so many threads, each with its own purpose and distinct place in the pattern being created.  But why those threads; why then; why now. Let's discover some of those threads in my life's tapestry.

Support the show

Help keep the Don’t Forget To Breathe podcast going. Become a supporter today and be part of the movement to bring light, connection, and hope to those living with loss. Follow this link to become a Supporter:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1376761/support

Get in touch

It was time to go back to Denver; time to get out of Louisiana; time to leave behind the horrible experience of burying my daughter. There was nothing to live for any longer. I was cloaked in despair; a walking death-wish. But someone had another plan for my life. This is the story of a divine encounter that changed everything.

Support the show

Help keep the Don’t Forget To Breathe podcast going. Become a supporter today and be part of the movement to bring light, connection, and hope to those living with loss. Follow this link to become a Supporter:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1376761/support

Get in touch

From the moment I entered the Funeral Home until the time I exited, I was left with a lasting impression of the "business" of funerals. On top of being there because my child had died, the experience was one that I hope no parent will need to go through, even though I know it happens every single day to someone.

Support the show

Help keep the Don’t Forget To Breathe podcast going. Become a supporter today and be part of the movement to bring light, connection, and hope to those living with loss. Follow this link to become a Supporter:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1376761/support

Get in touch

So on a day like any other, I got the call no parent ever wants to get, or ever really imagines they will, and one they never should. My daughter was dead. This episode covers the moment my life changed forever, and the living nightmare that began the next chapter of my life.

Support the show

Help keep the Don’t Forget To Breathe podcast going. Become a supporter today and be part of the movement to bring light, connection, and hope to those living with loss. Follow this link to become a Supporter:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1376761/support

Get in touch

Don’t Forget to Breathe is a podcast about child loss, grief, and the life that follows a tragedy no parent should ever have to endure. Created and hosted by bereaved father Bruce Barker, the podcast began as one dad’s story after the sudden loss of his 20-year-old daughter, and has grown into a shared space for parents navigating unimaginable loss.

Across multiple seasons, Bruce speaks openly about grief in all its forms: anger, depression, numbness, isolation, and the moments when breathing itself feels difficult. He also explores what comes alongside the pain, connection, meaning, love, and the slow, uneven process of learning how to live again while carrying profound loss.

Beginning in Season 4, Bruce is joined by co-host Kristin Glenn, a fellow bereaved parent whose voice and lived experience deepen the conversation. Together, they create a compassionate, honest space where grief is not rushed, fixed, or minimized.

A central part of Don’t Forget to Breathe is hearing directly from parents who have lost a child. Mothers and fathers come on the podcast to tell their child’s story, speak their name, share memories, and talk honestly about life after loss. These conversations offer connection, understanding, and the reassurance that no one is alone in this journey.

This podcast is for bereaved parents, for those supporting someone through grief, and for anyone seeking a more honest conversation about death, loss, and love. Episodes aim to normalize grief, replace clichés with clarity, and honor the ongoing bond between parents and their children.

If you have lost a child, or love someone who has, you are welcome here.

This is not a how-to guide. I’m not a therapist or a counselor. I’m just a man. A dad. And now, I suppose, a storyteller.

So let’s begin, with my story.
A tragic story.
And, unfortunately, a true one.

Support the show

Help keep the Don’t Forget To Breathe podcast going. Become a supporter today and be part of the movement to bring light, connection, and hope to those living with loss. Follow this link to become a Supporter:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1376761/support