Life Shift | True Stories of Healing, Grief & Loss

Hi, I'm Matt Gilhooly and I host The Life Shift – a podcast about the moments that change everything.

When I was eight years old, my life flipped upside down. For a long time, I didn't know how I would ever process it. That's a big part of why I created this show.

Each week, I sit with someone and talk about one specific moment – the kind that splits a life into before and after.

Loss. Trauma. Identity shifts. The quiet unraveling that nobody sees coming.

We talk about how they moved through it without pretending there's a clean finish line.

If you've ever felt like your story doesn't fit the script, I hope you'll listen.

Search The Life Shift wherever you get your podcasts – or find me at the links below.

🌐 thelifeshiftpodcast.com

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Some stories don’t begin at the hardest moment. They begin with what comes after it. Scott Martin was 35 years old, coaching at the collegiate level, rubbing elbows with national team players at a Nike camp outside Chicago, when his body quietly started failing him. A fever. A bad night. A doctor who said drink Gatorade and sent him home. By the next morning, he was in a coma. A month later, he woke up as a quad amputee.

If you’re listening to figure out how someone survives that, you will. But what this conversation is really about is everything Scott carried in the years that followed. The way he worked instead of grieving. The discrimination he faced trying to return to coaching. The night he lost a $10 million malpractice trial, pulled into his garage, and sat alone in the silence with thoughts he doesn’t sugarcoat. And then, instead, made a list.

That list became a road. The road eventually led to a coaching job he worked for free, five adopted children from Romania and Ethiopia, two state championships with kids no one believed in, a soulmate he’d let go at 19 and found again 40 years later, and a book called Play From Your Heart published by Simon and Schuster. Scott didn’t heal in a straight line. None of us do. But he kept choosing the next thing, and this is what that looked like.

What You’ll Hear:

Guest Bio:

Scott Martin is a soccer coach, teacher, author, and father of five adopted children. After becoming a quad amputee at 35 following a near-fatal illness, he rebuilt his life through coaching, fatherhood, and eventually writing Play From Your Heart, a memoir published by Simon and Schuster. Scott lives in Wisconsin, coaches at the club level, and is passionate about using his story to support the disability community and anyone who has had to start over. His book is available for pre-order now wherever books are sold. Reach Scott at [email protected].

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life after amputation, rebuilding identity after trauma, disability and resilience, overcoming depression, quad amputee recovery, coping with grief and loss, starting over in your thirties, adoption as transformation, identity after illness, shame and disability

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Some moments don't announce themselves. They arrive as headaches you explain away, as an MRI you schedule between school pickups and client calls. And then your phone rings ten minutes after you get home, and everything you thought you knew about your life gets quietly rearranged.

Jen Dary was 35, a business owner and new mom to two babies, when a neurologist told her she had a lemon-sized brain tumor sitting behind her left eye. What followed wasn't just a medical crisis. It was a complete unraveling of who she thought she was supposed to be, and a slow, surprising reconstruction of who she actually wanted to become.

In this conversation, Jen talks about the strange calm that preceded brain surgery, the spiritual visions that carried her through, and the grief that arrived weeks later in a coffee shop. She shares what it looks like to release the identity that doesn't fit anymore, and how she came to understand her life less as something that happened to her, and more as something she might have chosen.

What You'll Hear:

Guest Bio:

Author Jen Dary is a highly sought-after leadership coach, entrepreneur, brain tumor survivor, podcast host, and mom. As founder of the coaching firm Plucky, she has coached professionals from over 200 companies, including Google, Facebook, Slack, Code for America, The New York Times, and many more. She has shared her expertise with the Wall Street Journal, and as guest on multiple podcasts including Harvard Business Review's Women at Work. She has written for Harvard Business Review online and was published in Harvard Business Review's Work Smart Series. Jen was a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts resident and is active in the DC writing scene.

Jen's first book "I Believe in Everything: A Memoir of Illness, Motherhood and Magic" will be released January 2026 (Daring House, LLC). Jen lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and two young sons.

More at: jendarywriter.com/ and https://linktr.ee/jendarywriter

"I Believe in Everything" Official Website: daring.house/i-believe-in-everything

Jen Dary on IG: @jendarywriter

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brain tumor survivor, life shift moment, identity after illness, brain surgery recovery, spiritual awakening, finding purpose after trauma, survivor's guilt, meningioma, radical acceptance, living with intention

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Somewhere along the way, most of us learned to take better care of other people than we do of ourselves. We know the right things to say. We show up. We hold space. And then we go home to the version of our life we haven't quite told anyone about.

Misha Brown spent years doing exactly that. A performer from a tiny one-stoplight town, he built a life that looked full from the outside, travel to over a hundred countries, a career on cruise ships and stages, a laugh that could fill any room. But behind the shine was a quiet, persistent loneliness, and a drinking habit that had become the costume he wore instead of a self.

The shift came on Christmas Eve in a New Jersey hotel room. Empty cans, a makeshift ashtray, and a phone call with his best friend who was struggling. After hanging up, Misha looked in the mirror and asked himself a question that changed everything: why can't you be your own friend? It wasn't a dramatic moment. It was a quiet one. And sometimes that's exactly what breaks something open.

What You'll Hear:

Misha Brown is an undeniable entertainment powerhouse who excels as an influencer, podcast host, and performer. With a knack for captivating audiences, he shot to notoriety on TikTok in 2021 with the viral Lessons in Not Crossing a Gay Man series, amassing over 6 million followers. Named Motivational Creator of the Year and honored by the Webby Awards for social impact, he also earned a Best Comedy Podcast nomination from the Podcast Academy. Misha’s work has been spotlighted by People, USA Today, and Good Morning America, cementing his status as one of the most compelling voices online.

His debut book, Be Your Own Bestie: A No-Nonsense Guide to Changing the Way You Treat Yourself, is available wherever books are sold. He lives in Texas with his husband and a collection of pets he is deeply devoted to. You can find him everywhere at @yourbestie_misha.

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self-love, sobriety, identity, recovery, performing arts, belonging, inner child, self-worth, authenticity, friendship

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Some moments arrive quietly. This one arrived with teeth.

Tim Thomas spent most of his life moving through the world one decision at a time, eyes forward, gut leading. Fighter. Special Forces operator. A man who found clarity in high-stakes moments and chased them because that was the only place he felt fully present. It worked. And it also kept him from seeing almost everything that mattered beyond the edges of his own experience.

Then a shark bit him off the coast of Sydney, and something opened up. Not because of the danger. Because of a friend's eyes in the water. Because of one second where the stress fell out of his body and something unexpected arrived in its place. Peace. Not because the situation was okay. Because another person had his back. Tim calls it the moment he realized we don't need more stuff. We need more trust.

What You'll Hear:

Guest Bio:

Tim Thomas is a Father of two, former MMA fighter & Australian Special Forces Commando who now helps people reclaim their energy and mental clarity through sleep and breathwork. After working with veterans struggling with PTSD and noticing that real change began the moment their sleep improved, he created Breathwork in Bed to make better sleep simple and accessible for anyone battling exhaustion and overwhelm. His mission is helping people move from surviving their days to actually living them with peace, power, and presence.

Tim Thomas wants to gift you 28 days of great sleep. Sound good? These links are for immediate and natural sleep improvement; They’re Tim’s company's online resource called - The ‘Breathwork in Bed’ app. The app will guide you to sleep with peace and out of bed with power. Enjoy!

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6575362285?pt=127061224&ct=BIB50K&mt=8

Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.breathworkinbed.bibsleepapp20&hl=en

https://breathworkinbed.com.au/

https://www.instagram.com/breathworkinbed/

https://www.facebook.com/breathworkinbed

https://www.tiktok.com/@breathworkinbed?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bettersleepbetterworld/

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trust and connection, near-death experience transformation, veteran mental health, sleep science, breathwork for sleep, overcoming isolation, freediving mindfulness, internal compass, authentic conversation, loneliness and fatigue

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Some of us build an entire life before we realize the foundation was made of survival, not solid ground. If you have ever pushed hard, achieved big, and still felt like something underneath you was quietly trembling, this episode is for you.

Kathleen McKune grew up in a home marked by abuse, neglect, and a kind of chaos that required a five-year-old to climb up to the stove and start making dinner for her siblings. She became a high-achieving entrepreneur, a strategic facilitator, a co-founder, a mother, and an author. She did all of it with what she calls "steeled up Kathleen": walls up, eyes forward, purpose driving every step. The struggles were internal. The world only saw the results.

In 2017, Kathleen was facilitating a trauma training in Kansas City when a slide went up showing the Adverse Childhood Experiences scale. She assumed most people in the room would score close to her. Most scored zero, one, or two. She had written down an eight to fib a little, knowing she was actually a nine. That moment, at 56 years old, was the first time Kathleen understood that not everyone grew up the way she did. It did not break her. It gave her language. It gave her science. And slowly, years later, it gave her permission to begin asking who she actually is underneath all the survival.

What You'll Hear:

About Kathleen McKune

Kathleen Harnish McKune is a co-founder and CEO of Team Tech, a strategic facilitation firm, and the CEO of Remarkably Resilient, a nonprofit dedicated to trauma-informed resilience education. She co-authored the book Remarkably Resilient: Community Matters alongside her twin sisters Sharon and Karen, sharing the neuroscience of trauma and a framework for building resilience. Kathleen works with state and local governments, corrections, child welfare agencies, and incarcerated populations across Kansas, and brings both lived experience and rigorous research to her mission of helping people understand what happened to them, and how to move through it. You can find her at remarkably-resilient.com.

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childhood trauma recovery, adverse childhood experiences, ACEs score, breaking generational cycles, trauma-informed resilience, healing authentic self, survival perfectionism, high-functioning trauma survivor, neuroscience of trauma, what happened to you

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There is a kind of grief that never gets to happen out loud. It stays pressed down inside you, shaped by the people around you who couldn't hold it. Matin knows that grief. She found out her mother had died by reaching for a hand that didn't reach back. She was thirteen. And then the world she had counted on, her mother's family, her father's warmth, the permission to even cry, quietly fell away.

What followed was years of building a life on her own terms. Studying in secret. Sleeping on hard surfaces just to avoid going home. Moving from Iran to Japan to finally have room to breathe. She did it without anyone telling her she could. She did it by becoming her own closest companion, the kind of friend who says, I remember when that happened, and we got through it together.

Matin is a plant molecular biologist who studies mangrove trees, organisms that live between land and sea, in conditions most things can't survive. She sees herself in them. In this conversation, she shares what it took to finally reach peace, and why she believes all of us should talk about our stories, not as something brave or rare, but as something ordinary and necessary.

What You'll Hear:

Guest Bio:

Matin Miryeganeh grew up in Rasht, Iran, and is now a plant molecular biologist based in Japan, where she has lived for sixteen years. She studies mangrove trees, and the connection she feels to these resilient organisms runs deeper than science. Matin is also the author of All Is Well, a memoir in which she shares her journey through loss, isolation, and the long, quiet road to peace. You can find her book on Amazon and Goodreads: https://www.amazon.com/All-Well-memoir-survival-strength/dp/B0FHH898H6

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childhood grief, mother loss, growing up without support, finding inner peace, resilience, trauma healing, isolation, self-connection, immigrant journey, life transformation

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Maybe you grew up loving someone who was always somewhere else. Always present in the house but somehow out of reach. If that landed in a part of you that still carries it, this episode might feel like a long exhale.

Matt Fogelson grew up wanting more of his father than his father knew how to give. When his dad died unexpectedly during Matt's college years, the grief that followed wasn't just about loss. It was about all the conversations they never had, the closeness that always felt one step away. Matt went to law school, followed the family blueprint, wore his father's suits to work, and spent years trying to fill a hole that kept its shape.

Then he brought his own son home for the first time. The baby wouldn't stop crying. The dog was barking. Nothing was working. And without thinking about it at all, Matt started singing. What came out was a Grateful Dead song. It wasn't logical. It was just true. And that small, strange, middle-of-the-night moment quietly became the beginning of something he'd been waiting his whole life to start.

What You'll Hear:

Matt Fogelson is an author, former attorney, and lifelong music obsessive who spent decades navigating the emotional distance passed down through generations of his family. His memoir, Restrung: Fatherhood in a Different Key, traces the journey from grief to presence through the language of music. He lives with his family and can be found at mattfogelson.com.

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father son relationship, grief after losing a parent, emotional distance in families, fatherhood and identity, music as healing, inherited trauma, becoming a present parent, memoir writing as grief, breaking family patterns, unresolved loss

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Maybe you've done something you're not proud of. Maybe you've done it more than once. And maybe the hardest part wasn't the doing, it was the sitting with what it said about you.

Nick Gomez grew up moving fast, through friendships, through relationships, through versions of himself he wasn't sure he believed in. Raised in Cancun with a lot of freedom and very little guidance, he learned early that if no one found out, it didn't really happen. That belief followed him into adulthood, into relationship after relationship, until one moment changed the math entirely.

This is a conversation about what it actually takes to tell the truth when you know it's going to cost you. About the patterns we carry from childhood without realizing it. About grief, writing, the strange relief of finally saying the thing out loud, and what it looks like to slowly, imperfectly become someone you actually respect.

What You'll Hear:

Guest Bio: Nick Gomez is an author, filmmaker, and coach based in the United States. Originally from Cancun, Mexico, Nick has written multiple memoirs exploring identity, honesty, and the messier parts of being human. Two of his books are available as free audiobooks on YouTube. He approaches his work, and his life, with a commitment to authenticity that took years to build and that he keeps rebuilding every day. You can find him at https://www.realnicholasgomez.com/

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self-sabotage, relationship patterns, emotional honesty, cheating and confession, childhood neglect, self-worth, identity, memoir writing, psychedelic therapy, grief, father loss, authenticity, codependency, personal transformation

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Maybe you know this feeling. Someone died and you kept going, because that was what you were supposed to do. You stayed busy, you stayed capable, and somewhere along the way you convinced yourself that you had handled it.

Rebe Huntman lost her mother to cancer at 19. The grief counselors told her to move forward. So she did, with discipline and determination and a full, successful life. But 30 years later, on the edge of turning 50, she realized she had never actually let herself miss her. Not really.

This episode follows Rebe's pilgrimage to Cuba, a country where the dead are not gone, where ancestors are spoken to daily and the veil between worlds is treated as thin and navigable. What she found there, in the dances, in the drumming, in the quiet workroom of a spiritist in El Cobre, was not magic for its own sake. It was permission. Permission to stop moving past her grief and start staying in it.

What You'll Hear:

Guest Bio:

Rebe Huntman is a writer, former Latin dancer, and choreographer who has spent her career at the intersection of movement, storytelling, and spirit. She spent decades running a professional dance company and teaching college and high school before turning her full attention to writing. She splits her time between Delaware, Ohio and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her debut memoir, My Mother in Havana: A Memoir of Magic and Miracle, was published in 2025 and chronicles her transformative pilgrimage to Cuba in search of her mother and herself. Find her at rebehuntman.com and on Instagram @rebehuntman.

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grief after mother's death, ancestral healing, Afro-Cuban spirituality, pilgrimage and transformation, learning to talk to the dead, disenfranchised grief, mother loss, life after 50 identity, Santeria and healing, memoir of magic and grief

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