✨ This episode is sponsored by RevitaLash Cosmetics.

Rosie has partnered with RevitaLash, the original lash conditioning brand, to bring you a special offer.

Use code ROSIE20 for 20% off your order at revitalash.co.uk.

Thank you to RevitaLash for supporting Everything Changed.

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When Nicola Whitbread-Hastings became a mother, she expected the “typical” experience. Instead, she was thrust into a world of medical terminology, 24/7 care, and a diagnosis so rare there are only a few hundred cases worldwide.

In this episode of Everything Changed, Nicola joins us to share the raw, unfiltered reality of raising her son, Rudy, who lives with MCAHS1, a genetic condition that causes epilepsy, visual impairment, and profound physical disability.

In this episode we discuss:

* The COVID diagnosis

Navigating the terrifying first weeks of lockdown while realising something was wrong.

* Finding out both she and her husband carried the same rare gene.

* The survival instinct

Why she had to emotionally detach from her second pregnancy to survive the weight of a potential second diagnosis.

* Milestones vs inchstones

The beautiful, small victories that mean everything.

This is a story about resilience, the fight of a special-needs parent, and how the arrival of her second son, Dexter, helped their family rediscover laughter in the chaos.

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Resources mentioned in this episode:

Haven House Children’s Hospice: https://www.havenhouse.org.uk/

Follow Rudy’s journey on Instagram: @rudysw0rld

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Timestamps

00:00 – Highlights: The moment everything changed

02:15 – The first signs and the COVID lockdown

08:50 – Getting the MCAHS1 diagnosis

16:10 – The heartbreaking reality of the second pregnancy

21:45 – The IVF journey and travelling to Barcelona

25:30 – Dexter: finding joy in “typical” motherhood

34:00 – Advice for parents facing a new diagnosis

✨ Sponsored by RevitaLash Cosmetics ✨

This episode is proudly sponsored by RevitaLash Cosmetics 💗

Founded by Dr Michael Brinkenhoff to help his wife feel more beautiful during her battle with breast cancer, RevitaLash is best known for its clinically tested RevitaLash Advanced Eyelash Serum.

A portion of every purchase supports global breast cancer research, including studies at the Francis Crick Institute in London.

Thank you to RevitaLash for supporting Everything Changed.

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🎙️ Everything Changed | Carly Chan’s story

In this episode, Rosie speaks to Carly Chan, who shares the reality of pregnancy sickness that became life-threatening and why giving birth was not the end of her struggle.

Just weeks into pregnancy, Carly developed hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a severe condition that left her bedridden, dehydrated, and unable to function. What’s often dismissed as “bad morning sickness” became months of relentless nausea, isolation, and a devastating impact on her mental health.

Carly speaks honestly about:

* Losing her sense of identity

* Feeling trapped in her own body

* Experiencing suicidal thoughts, not because she didn’t want her baby, but because she desperately wanted the sickness to stop

Although the physical symptoms ended as soon as her son was born, Carly explains how she struggled to bond with him, feeling intense fear, anxiety, and shame in the early days of motherhood.

With support from friends, her husband, and specialist perinatal mental health services, Carly made the terrifying but life-changing decision to enter a Mother and Baby Unit, where she received intensive support for severe postnatal anxiety and depression.

This is a powerful, honest conversation about pregnancy, postnatal mental health, and why asking for help can be lifesaving.

If this episode resonates with you, you are not alone.

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⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 “I felt suicidal during pregnancy”

00:36 Meeting Carly and the start of her story

01:58 When pregnancy sickness suddenly took over

04:19 Hospital visits, dehydration and being dismissed

06:12 Diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG)

09:49 Giving birth and expecting everything to be okay

10:15 Struggling to bond with her newborn

13:24 Reaching breaking point and suicidal thoughts

15:32 Friends stepping in when Carly couldn’t cope

18:48 The moment she realised she needed more help

19:48 Being told she needed a Mother and Baby Unit

21:57 The first night alone with her baby

24:14 Treatment, exposure therapy and recovery

29:28 How this changed her decision to have more children

32:00 Carly’s message to anyone struggling

33:07 Finding strength, endurance and pride

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🧡 Support and resources

If you are struggling during pregnancy or after birth, these organisations can help:

🤍 Pregnancy Sickness Support

https://pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk

Support, information, and peer mentoring for people experiencing hyperemesis gravidarum and severe pregnancy sickness.

💛 PANDAS Foundation

https://pandasfoundation.org.uk

Support for parents and families affected by perinatal mental illness, including postnatal depression and anxiety.

Sponsored by RevitaLash Cosmetics

Use code ROSIE20 for 20 percent off at checkout.

Kristen’s life changed almost overnight. In early 2022, she suddenly developed extreme anxiety, tremors, and escalating neurological symptoms that no one could explain. Within months, she lost her voice, her confidence, and eventually her mobility — going from walking for half an hour to barely lasting five minutes. Her husband carried her up and down the stairs. She stopped going out. She hid from friends and family because she couldn’t face the questions. 

This episode follows Kristen’s raw, honest journey through misdiagnosis, fear, and the emotional shock of becoming a full-time wheelchair user at 26. It also traces the unexpected moment everything shifted — a chance encounter at Paddington Station with another wheelchair user — and how that single conversation opened the door to wheelchair basketball, then padel, and ultimately a new identity. Today, Kristen is Britain’s number-one female wheelchair padel player. 

Her story is about identity, loss, resilience, and rebuilding a life that looks nothing like the one she had before — but one she is proud of.

00:00 Losing mobility, losing her voice — everything collapses

00:23 Meet Kristen: nurse and Britain’s No.1 wheelchair padel player

01:31 The sudden anxiety and confusion in 2022

03:37 Misdiagnosis, dismissal, and declining mobility

06:13 Losing her voice — and losing her identity

11:37 The Bath trip: realising she can no longer walk

17:27 Isolation, hiding from the world, husband becoming a carer

23:53 Paddington Station: the moment everything changed

27:58 From wheelchair basketball to becoming No.1 in padel

31:29 The pink hair: reclaiming identity and confidence

Supported by RevitaLash Cosmetics. Use code ROSIE20 for 20 percent off on their official site.

When Rachel Jones took her son Alfie to a routine weigh-in, she never imagined it would lead to a life-altering diagnosis. What followed was years of treatment, surgeries, hope, fear and unimaginable strength. And then, in a single night, everything changed again.

In this extraordinary conversation, Rachel shares:

• The moment doctors gave Alfie a 5 percent chance of survival

• The rushed wedding and christening that happened within 48 hours

• Years of chemo, brain surgeries and hospital life

• The sudden sepsis infection that took Alfie’s life within hours

• Navigating grief while raising two other children

• How she is rebuilding purpose through the Alfie Foundation

This is one of the most powerful and honest stories we have ever shared. A profound conversation about love, loss, resilience and what it means to keep going when your world collapses.

🎧 EVERYTHING CHANGED — Episode 4: Gigi’s Story

Courtesy of ✨ RevitaLash Cosmetics ✨ www.revitalash.co.uk

💙 Enjoy 20% off with code ROSIE20

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🙏 Special thanks to our guest, Gigi (Grace)

Her award-winning podcast Journeys with Grace can be found wherever you get your podcasts or at http://jwgstory.com

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🎤 In this episode:

Singer-songwriter and British Podcast Award finalist Gigi opens up about the extraordinary twists in her life — from being sent from South London to Nigeria as a child, to facing years of pain from Crohn’s disease, to hearing the words no one ever expects: “We think it’s cancer.”

💫 This is a story of shock, resilience and self-belief — of learning to take control when everything feels lost. Gigi shares how she reversed her illness, rebuilt her life, and found healing through her music and her voice.

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🕰️ What we talk about:

00:00 — Growing up between cultures in Brixton and Nigeria

04:00 — Being “sent away” and what that taught her about identity

07:00 — The first taste of fame on Pop Idol

08:40 — Living with Crohn’s and learning to self-heal

14:00 — “I had no symptoms — and then they told me it was cancer.”

20:00 — Advocating for yourself when doctors rush your decisions

24:00 — What it means to be in the driver’s seat of your healing

27:00 — The power of discipline, mindset and self-trust

29:00 — Gigi on what really makes her happy today

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💬 Connect with Gigi:

Instagram: @jwgstory

Podcast: Journeys with Grace

🌿 Follow Rosie:

Instagram: @rosiefawehimi

Podcast updates: @everythingchangedpod

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🎙️ About Everything Changed

Real stories. Raw conversations. Life-changing moments.

New episodes every other Wednesday on Spotify, YouTube & Apple Podcasts.

Thanks to Our Sponsor:

This episode is supported by Never Fully Dressed, a brand that champions confidence, individuality, and authenticity.

At just 29, Carly Moosah’s life was turned upside down when she lost her best friend to cancer. What followed was grief, shock, and a long road to finding her feet again.

In this episode of Everything Changed, Carly shares the raw reality of navigating loss, her outrage at the gaps in testing and diagnosis, and how she’s managed to rebuild life with clarity, resilience, and purpose.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• ​The impact of losing a best friend so young
• ​How Carly channelled grief into advocacy and awareness
• ​Why she speaks out about testing and early diagnosis
• ​The mindset shifts that helped her start over

Follow Everything Changed for more powerful stories of resilience, loss, and reinvention.

He was ready to be a dad for years — but nothing prepared him for what came next.

TV presenter James Green opens up to Rosie Fawehimi about the hidden grief of miscarriage, the toll repeated loss takes on couples, and the long road through IVF that finally brought him and his partner Nicola their miracle daughter.

They talk about:

• Losing three pregnancies during lockdown

• The trauma of being shut out of hospitals during Covid

• Mental health and the dark thoughts few men admit

• The hilariously awkward reality of IVF (yes, the Pornhub chair)

• The moment they finally saw a heartbeat

• How Nicola’s later breast cancer diagnosis during pregnancy changed everything again

This is one of the rawest and most hopeful conversations we’ve had — about love, resilience, and learning to find joy again after loss.

🎙 Everything Changed — real stories of life before and after everything changed.

👉 Watch in full on YouTube or listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Thanks to Our Sponsor:This episode is brought to you by Never Fully Dressed — a brand that champions confidence, individuality, and authenticity. We’re grateful for their support in helping us share stories like Alice’s.

At 24, Alice Greaves was told she was “too young for breast cancer.” Within weeks she was diagnosed — and everything changed.

In this first episode of Everything Changed, Alice shares her journey from that devastating diagnosis to life-saving brain surgery, and how she found the resilience to cycle 126 miles just eight weeks after surgery. Along the way, she’s raised over £350,000 for charity and become a powerful advocate for knowing your body, pushing for answers, and choosing what she calls “fight mode.”

In this episode:

• Why Alice refused to accept a GP dismissal

• The moment she heard “if anyone can, Alice can”

• Surviving brain surgery and choosing resilience

• How she’s raised over £350,000 for cancer charities

• The biggest life lesson she wants others to hear

Follow Everything Changed for more stories of resilience, loss, and reinvention.