The RadioDana Diaries

Grace was an outgoing, popular, and athletic teenager when the pandemic first began.  But when the country went on lockdown,  she became obsessed with exercise and lost an alarming amount of weight. And Grace isn't alone. Across the country, the number of young people diagnosed with eating disorders has exploded.  The problem is so bad,  doctors told Grace's mother, "There are so many kids suffering right now, we don't have enough beds."  Experts blame a perfect storm of anxiety, isolation, and social media.  What's worse?  Social media giants like Instagram now acknowledge that their own algorithms pushed dangerous content to vulnerable teenagers searching for information about eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.  When asked about the past year, Grace's mother says, "It's been hell."   She is telling her family's story in hopes of saving someone else.  Saving Grace is Diary Entry #14.

If you don't think a pair of socks can change the world... you haven't met Laura Schmidt.   Laura is the 'Chief Positive Person' of 'Notes To Self Socks' and she believes that WORDS MATTER!!!  One MILLION pairs of positive socks later, she sits down with the 'RadioDana Diaries' to explain how it all came about.  YES, famous people wear her socks.  But so do a TON of my friends because I started giving them out as gifts several years ago.  YOU are SMART, YOU are CONFIDENT and YOU are BRAVE!!!  Just ask Laura Schmidt!!!!  She is my friend, and she is Diary Entry #13... 

My guest this week uncovered an extremely dark past in our collective history regarding women, sex, and mass imprisonment.  Between the first and second World Wars, thousands of women were rounded up, tested, and forcibly incarcerated over suspicion that they'd contracted a sexually transmitted disease.  Some of the women who were imprisoned were married.  None of them had done anything wrong.  In fact, the youngest prisoners?  Were children.   Dr. Nicole Perry, with the University of Kansas,  spent ten years researching this deeply disturbing chapter in U.S. history before penning the book, "Policing Sex in the Sunflower State."  Dr. Perry's research lends a voice to these young women with lessons that continue to resonate today.  Their stories - are Diary Entry #12.

The RadioDana Diaries is BACK!  This week, we welcome 54 year old Anne Fraser.  Four years ago, after losing both of her parents to Alzheimer's Disease, Anne started noticing subtle changes in her memory and cognition levels.  She soon learned that she is one of a small percentage of Americans battling Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease, or Pre-Alzheimer's Disease.  When you meet Anne?  You would never know it.  She says some small but incredibly important lifestyle changes have made it possible for her to stay ON her GAME!  Anne is my friend.  And she is Diary Entry #10.

The first time you meet Kristen Christian you will want to hug her and be her best friend.  In that order.  I have known Kristen for a little over a year through her AMAZING organization business, "Bee Organized," in Kansas City.  She's the kind of woman you just fall in love with.  She lights up a ROOM.  I only recently found out that this fierce, funny, energetic mother of four?  Is also a breast cancer survivor.  I was thrilled that she agreed to sit down with me during 'Breast Cancer Awareness Month' to share her story with ALL of you- because I truly believe her story will save lives.  What does breast cancer feel like?  Why did her mammogram miss her cancer?  How did SHE find it on her own?  Kristen is my friend.  And her survivor story is Diary Entry #9. 

You've probably heard about the extremely popular antibiotic known as "Bactrim," which is used to treat all kinds of ailments from acne to urinary tract infections.  But two local physicians recently figured out - that for some teenagers - the common prescription can lead to devastating reactions, including death.  I welcome Dr. Jenna Miller and Dr. Jennifer Goldman to The RadioDana Diaries.  Their story is Diary Entry Number Eight.  

When I first started asking around about the strong and amazing women that I NEEDED to know in my life? More people than I can count, replied, "Deliece Hofen." Deliece is a warrior and a cancer survivor. And so is her little boy. In one TINY window of time, cancer knocked on her family's door not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES. In this week's "RadioDana Diaries," you will hear about this mom's fierce, tandem fight to save her son Braden's life and her own. You will also learn a stunning truth: an adult's road map to remission looks nothing like a child's when they're both facing a similar diagnosis. How could that be?  Deliece was in a terrifying and unique position to ask that very question when she and Braden started chemotherapy at the exact same time. Their journey has inspired people all over the country to join in the fight at Bradenshope.org. Please support this incredible organization which is changing the landscape of pediatric cancer research RIGHT HERE IN KC!!  Deliece Hofen is a warrior. She is my friend. And she is Diary Entry Number Seven.

As I was sitting down to write this, I was thinking how much I wish that I knew my friend, Mindy Corporon, for a reason OTHER than the one that brought me to Mindy Corporon. Like me, Mindy is a boy mom. She is a public speaker and a wife. She has kind eyes and a soft and beautiful smile. She's the kind of woman you WANT to be friends with the second you meet her. I hadn't yet met Mindy back on April 13, 2014, when her world came crashing around her. That day, she pulled into the parking lot of the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas.  She got out of her car and found her father, Dr. William Corporon, and her teenage son, Reat shot to death. The pair were senselessly gunned down during a hate crime moments before.  The spree also claimed the life of a mother of three named Terri Lamano at a nearby retirement community. I remember watching Mindy, less than 24 hours after the horror unfolded, addressing a crowd of young people who had gathered for a vigil for the three victims. I remember thinking, how is she standing? How is she offering comfort to so many when her life has just been ripped out from under her?  As a member of the local media, I came to know Mindy in the years after the crime and its aftermath. Oh, how I wish the circumstances were different. Mindy continues to amaze me. She is one of the bravest women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.  Despite what happened that day, she has continued to shine a light of hope, peace, and understanding throughout KC and beyond. Mindy Corporon is my friend. And she is Diary Entry number six....

In this week's "RadioDana Diaries," I'm asking you to think about all of the different ways people die in our community and the questions we ALL have when a young person, in particular, is taken from us. The nightly news is filled with car accidents and house fires and homicides and drug overdoses. And all of these deaths, generally, have at least one thing in common: family members almost always know what happened.  Think about it. In most cases, people know how and when and where and WHY their loved ones died. But when a police officer in the state of Kansas is cleared in the shooting death of a citizen? None of us has a legal right to find out WHAT HAPPENED. That's because Kansas "open" records laws are among the worst in the country. Overland Park mom Sheila Albers had never given it much thought until her teenage son was shot and killed in the family's driveway on January 20, 2018. The death of 17-year-old John Albers sparked a two-year fight to change the law. Their story is Diary Entry Number five.