Warrior Moms: Surviving Child Loss

Thank you so much for listening! We'd love to hear from you---what you would love to hear, what you like, what helped, etc. With love, Warrior Moms Michele & Amy

A single pill can look harmless and still change everything. We’re joined by Pam Burton, one of our Warrior Moms, to honor her son Trevor and to say the quiet parts out loud about grief, love, and taking care of yourself.

Pam takes us from the funny, vivid stories of “Little Dude” into the moment every parent dread: the phone call that told her Trevor was gone. She explains how he took what he thought was a Percocet for back pain while moving at college, only to learn it was a fake pill containing enough fentanyl to kill thirteen people. We talk about the shock, anger, numbness, and how support can feel both lifesaving and impossible to receive in those first days. 

So, who was Trevor? He was the kind of kid who lit up a room, played football like he had no fear, and made sure nobody got left out. 

What stays with us most is Trevor’s legacy of “luv.” Pam shares how he got his friends saying “I love you” on calls and texts, and how that simple practice became a lifelong marker of who he was. 

We also dig into what helps when you feel yourself disappearing inside grief: talking about your child often, welcoming the stories and videos people send, building small daily rituals, leaning on community, and choosing your next right step even when you don’t feel ready. 

"Dream Bird" by Jonny Easton

Support the show

Thank you for listening to Warrior Moms podcast. It is an honor to share about our beloved children gone too soon, and we hope by telling of our loss, it may help someone in their grief journey. Please note that we are not medical professionals and encourage those listening to seek help from mental health professionals. 

We'd love to hear from our followers! 

Please help support us, so we can help support other grieving moms. 
Websites: 

https://www.warriormoms.me/

https://www.warriormomssupportfoundation.org/

DONATE * Listen to Other Podcast Episodes * Sign up for Newsletter * Get on our Retreat Waitlist * Invite Us to Speak * Contact us!

With love,
Warrior Moms Amy & Michele

Thank you so much for listening! We'd love to hear from you---what you would love to hear, what you like, what helped, etc. With love, Warrior Moms Michele & Amy

Grief can make you feel like you’re the only mother on earth carrying this kind of silence, even when you’re surrounded by people who love you. We’re Amy Durham and Michele Davis, and we’re back for season three of Warrior Moms because we know what it’s like to lose a child and still have to wake up, feed the dog, show up for family, and somehow keep breathing.

There are so many new listeners since we started, so we wanted to reintroduce who we are and our stories of loss and love. 

Amy lost her son Alec seven years ago after years of addiction and a hard-won season of sobriety. Michele lost her son Carter ten years ago, murdered just before his senior year, in a moment that shattered a community and rewrote everything that came after. 

We also share the heart of what Warrior Moms means to us with the superhero cape being our symbol. Some days we wear it and function like superheroes, amazed at the giant feats we've accomplished while desperately missing our child. Other days it becomes a blanket on the floor we wrap up in, and that’s not weakness, it’s grief. 

We lean into our motto “feel the feels,” we talk about living in the and (joy and sorrow together), and why telling our children’s stories keeps their lives present.

You’ll also hear what we’ve built from this pain: our book Grieve Like a Mother, Survive Like a Warrior, our retreats and workshops, and our nonprofit support foundation that helps keep resources low cost or no cost for grieving moms. 

If you’ve been searching for a child loss podcast, support for bereaved mothers, or real coping strategies for grief, you’re in the right place. Subscribe, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more moms can find this community.

"Dream Bird" by Jonny Easton

Support the show

Thank you for listening to Warrior Moms podcast. It is an honor to share about our beloved children gone too soon, and we hope by telling of our loss, it may help someone in their grief journey. Please note that we are not medical professionals and encourage those listening to seek help from mental health professionals. 

We'd love to hear from our followers! 

Please help support us, so we can help support other grieving moms. 
Websites: 

https://www.warriormoms.me/

https://www.warriormomssupportfoundation.org/

DONATE * Listen to Other Podcast Episodes * Sign up for Newsletter * Get on our Retreat Waitlist * Invite Us to Speak * Contact us!

With love,
Warrior Moms Amy & Michele

Thank you so much for listening! We'd love to hear from you---what you would love to hear, what you like, what helped, etc. With love, Warrior Moms Michele & Amy

Grief can split a life in two—before the call and after. We sit with Nicole Canamare to honor her son Gavin, a brown‑eyed, quick‑witted middle child who traded team sports for skateboards and a boxing ring, journaled dreams into a logo called  7Love, and fought addiction with a courage that never boasted. Nicole takes us from school struggles and ADD labels to the moment a prescription helped, then harmed, and the night a hospital chair turned fear into naming the truth: addiction had taken hold and treatment was urgent.

What follows is the real timeline so many families know but seldom speak aloud—rehab, relapse, resolve, and the decision to work the steps with intention. There’s a rare Labor Day with family photos, amends made in hard conversations, and a workplace that stood by him. Then comes the Friday call and the kind of silence that only shock understands. Community crowds the house and somehow their laughter downstairs becomes a blanket. When sleep won’t come, Psalm 23 does. Anger gives way to a quiet assurance that Gavin’s pain is gone, even as Nicole’s remains.

We talk about the second year’s permanence, the strange twinship of joy and sorrow with new grandchildren, and why saying a child’s name matters. Nicole shares grounded, practical ways forward: return to simple rituals like gardening, seek faith or peer support that can hold heavy truths, and say yes to gentle plans without abandoning your limits. Strength doesn’t mean it feels better; it means you can carry what you couldn’t yesterday.

Gavin’s legacy lives through the 7Love Foundation—his handwritten vision turned into a mission to support families navigating addiction, a space too often left behind. If you’ve ever felt alone facing addiction, relapse, or bereavement, this conversation offers language, companionship, and a path toward purpose. Subscribe, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review with one insight you’re taking into your own life.

"Dream Bird" by Jonny Easton

Support the show

Thank you for listening to Warrior Moms podcast. It is an honor to share about our beloved children gone too soon, and we hope by telling of our loss, it may help someone in their grief journey. Please note that we are not medical professionals and encourage those listening to seek help from mental health professionals. 

We'd love to hear from our followers! 

Please help support us, so we can help support other grieving moms. 
Websites: 

https://www.warriormoms.me/

https://www.warriormomssupportfoundation.org/

DONATE * Listen to Other Podcast Episodes * Sign up for Newsletter * Get on our Retreat Waitlist * Invite Us to Speak * Contact us!

With love,
Warrior Moms Amy & Michele

Thank you so much for listening! We'd love to hear from you---what you would love to hear, what you like, what helped, etc. With love, Warrior Moms Michele & Amy

You can feel the moment the room exhales: someone asks a mother her child’s name, and everyone leans in to listen. That’s the heart of this conversation with the Purple Table—women who arrived at a grief retreat braced for tears and left with something larger than sorrow: connection, language, and practices they could carry home.

We talk candidly about the fear of showing up, the second-guessing in the car, and the relief of being with people who understand without explanation. A veteran Warrior Mom table leader Robyn shares how modeling joy years after loss can offer real hope to moms still in the raw months. Newer mothers describe the thaw of finally telling their children’s stories in full. The group unpacks the Monday and week after the retreat—emotional hangovers, quiet peace, and the surprising power of purpose—like one mom, Jolyn, who launched a local support circle where five women stayed talking for hours. It’s grief, but it’s also momentum.

Holidays raise the stakes, so we dig into simple, repeatable rituals: a place setting with notes for the missing child, luminaries with photos, memory trees filled with donated ornaments, and the right to take a break mid-tradition and return when you can breathe again. We sit with hard truths—families don’t always know how to help—and offer clear permission: there are no rules. Do what helps. Ask for what you need. Keep some traditions for surviving kids who crave stability, or build new ones that make space for tears and gratitude to coexist.

By the end, you’ll hear a shared credo: turn pain into purpose when you can, rest when you can’t, and let community carry what’s too heavy for one set of hands. If you’re navigating child loss—or love someone who is—this conversation offers practical tools, warm company, and proof that being “a badass” in grief can simply mean showing up for yourself and each other. If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more real talk, and leave a review so other grieving parents can find us.

"Dream Bird" by Jonny Easton

Support the show

Thank you for listening to Warrior Moms podcast. It is an honor to share about our beloved children gone too soon, and we hope by telling of our loss, it may help someone in their grief journey. Please note that we are not medical professionals and encourage those listening to seek help from mental health professionals. 

We'd love to hear from our followers! 

Please help support us, so we can help support other grieving moms. 
Websites: 

https://www.warriormoms.me/

https://www.warriormomssupportfoundation.org/

DONATE * Listen to Other Podcast Episodes * Sign up for Newsletter * Get on our Retreat Waitlist * Invite Us to Speak * Contact us!

With love,
Warrior Moms Amy & Michele

Thank you so much for listening! We'd love to hear from you---what you would love to hear, what you like, what helped, etc. With love, Warrior Moms Michele & Amy

Fifty moms stepped into a Georgia barn and turned a hard weekend into a living map for anyone walking through child loss. We opened the floor for questions and went straight to the heart: how do you start a local grief group when it’s just you and one friend, how do you keep it going nine years later, and what do you do when the room is a mix of newly bereaved, step-parents, and moms farther down the road? We shared the simple moves that make a group work—consistent dates, low-friction spaces, private social posts, and the courage to begin small—and the deeper habits that protect the culture: honesty, listening, and gentleness.

Our conversation dug into the story behind our book: why we wrote it from real mom voices, how messy drafts became clear chapters, and how love for our children pulled us through endless edits and publisher hoops. We explored what’s next—possible sibling and warrior dad projects—and how transcripts and short interviews can help hesitant writers find their words. When dads came up, we talked about shoulder-to-shoulder ways men connect—on a boat, at a game, or over quiet work—and how small groups and brief, steady touchpoints often fit how fathers process grief.

Listeners asked about warmth after the fog, rebuilding joy at home, and parenting a rainbow baby while honoring the child who died. The answers were lived-in: a playlist that fills a kitchen with memory, permission to be “stone” during awkward hugs (LOL), grace as a daily practice, and the holding gratitude and sorrow together. 

We also named the engine behind the retreat’s hospitality and for our own grief: ask for help. People want to cook, set tables, and open doors when we give them a way to show love.

If you or someone you love needs a map for the early days—or a way to lead in your community—this conversation offers steps you can use tomorrow, and stories that will keep you company while you try. Subscribe, share this with a friend who shows up for others, and leave a review to help more moms find their way to us.

NOTE: apologies for the quiet parts. I didn't want to delete the questions even when some of them are hard to hear because the answers are important. Thanks for the grace!

"Dream Bird" by Jonny Easton

Support the show

Thank you for listening to Warrior Moms podcast. It is an honor to share about our beloved children gone too soon, and we hope by telling of our loss, it may help someone in their grief journey. Please note that we are not medical professionals and encourage those listening to seek help from mental health professionals. 

We'd love to hear from our followers! 

Please help support us, so we can help support other grieving moms. 
Websites: 

https://www.warriormoms.me/

https://www.warriormomssupportfoundation.org/

DONATE * Listen to Other Podcast Episodes * Sign up for Newsletter * Get on our Retreat Waitlist * Invite Us to Speak * Contact us!

With love,
Warrior Moms Amy & Michele

Thank you so much for listening! We'd love to hear from you---what you would love to hear, what you like, what helped, etc. With love, Warrior Moms Michele & Amy

Season two: We return after months away to share how Amy's late-night title became a finished book, how 14 grieving mothers found their voices, and how a simple idea turned into a retreat that gave hope to an entire room. We talk honestly about what it takes to write through pain—how a few fragile sentences grew into chapters filled with survival tools, trigger alerts, and small, repeatable practices that make the hardest hours more livable...all while honoring our angels.

From there, the conversation widens to community and faith. We unpack the retreat’s origin story, the curriculum we shaped from the book’s themes, and the moment so many mothers arrived with exit plans, then stayed to laugh, cry, and speak their children’s names without flinching. A hayride carried us to a quiet pond, where lantern-lit boats drifted across the water—a living ritual for memory, love, and the space grief still needs. Along the way, life kept happening: Amy's father’s illness and passing, work deadlines, school plays, and the shock of time. We are so proud of pushing through tough times to create a book and a retreat that shows how Warrior Moms survive...and thrive.

If you’ve felt alone in loss, or you support someone who is grieving, this conversation offers practical guidance, sacred pauses, and real community you can hold onto. Listen, share with a friend who needs it, and subscribe so you never miss what comes next. Your review helps other warrior moms find their people.

"Dream Bird" by Jonny Easton

Support the show

Thank you for listening to Warrior Moms podcast. It is an honor to share about our beloved children gone too soon, and we hope by telling of our loss, it may help someone in their grief journey. Please note that we are not medical professionals and encourage those listening to seek help from mental health professionals. 

We'd love to hear from our followers! 

Please help support us, so we can help support other grieving moms. 
Websites: 

https://www.warriormoms.me/

https://www.warriormomssupportfoundation.org/

DONATE * Listen to Other Podcast Episodes * Sign up for Newsletter * Get on our Retreat Waitlist * Invite Us to Speak * Contact us!

With love,
Warrior Moms Amy & Michele

Thank you so much for listening! We'd love to hear from you---what you would love to hear, what you like, what helped, etc. With love, Warrior Moms Michele & Amy

From tragedy to publication, Michele and Amy share the Warrior Moms' writing journey. What began as raw, heartfelt yet short writings from twenty-three grieving mothers evolved into a powerful resource for anyone navigating the devastating loss of a child.

Four years ago, one of the Warrior Moms' founders, Christine McHenry, suggested they write their stories, and during a retreat, they shared these emotional first drafts around a campfire. Michele, drawing on her background as an English teacher, recognized both the potential and the need for structure. When she asked for volunteers to help shape these narratives, Amy immediately stepped forward, beginning a partnership that would ultimately lead to both the book and this podcast.

What makes Warrior Moms different from other grief resources? Through multiple writing retreats (including one memorable session where Michele and Amy arrived wearing bedazzled superhero capes), they discovered their unique approach to grief: brave, fierce, funny, intentional, and above all, supportive. The book doesn't just chronicle tragedies—it reveals strategies for survival and growth. 

After a challenging year of editing, a chance meeting on an airplane connected them with Ripples Media, who recognized the book's potential. Now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and warriormoms.me, the book offers hope to grieving mothers while also providing insights for professionals working with grief. Even psychologists who haven't experienced child loss have found valuable perspectives within its pages.

Ready to find your own warriors? Whether you're grieving or supporting someone through loss, join this movement of strength and connection. Michele and Amy invite listeners to reach out if they're interested in creating Warrior Mom groups in their own communities. As they say: "Feel the feels, take the naps when you need them, but then get back up and get going."

"Dream Bird" by Jonny Easton

Support the show

Thank you for listening to Warrior Moms podcast. It is an honor to share about our beloved children gone too soon, and we hope by telling of our loss, it may help someone in their grief journey. Please note that we are not medical professionals and encourage those listening to seek help from mental health professionals.

We'd love to hear from our followers!
Website: https://www.warriormoms.me/
Facebook: Warrior Moms-The Club No One Wants to Be In
Instagram: WarriorMoms.SurvivingChildLoss

With love,
Warrior Moms Amy & Michele

Thank you so much for listening! We'd love to hear from you---what you would love to hear, what you like, what helped, etc. With love, Warrior Moms Michele & Amy

Mary Leopold never expected to find herself on the other side of grief—as a psychotherapist with decades of experience, she'd helped countless clients through loss, but when her extraordinary 19-year-old son Oliver died unexpectedly in December 2021, everything changed.

Oliver wasn't just another teenager. With a mind that "worked differently," he blazed through life creating lasting impact wherever he went. At his high school of 4,000 students, he became known as "the voice", making morning announcements. During COVID, while many teens struggled with isolation, Oliver graduated early to work as an EMT in emergency rooms and on ambulances. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to create an app used by local firefighters and even purchase a decommissioned 42-foot fire truck (much to his parents' initial dismay). His passion for helping others defined him.

When Oliver passed away suddenly in his sleep from undiagnosed heart conditions, Mary found herself navigating the terrain of grief without a roadmap. The experience transformed both her personal journey and professional approach. "I'm much more patient with myself as a therapist now," she explains, "knowing there's no beginning, middle, and end to grief." Rather than focusing on fixing or resolving grief, Mary describes a process of integration—learning to incorporate profound loss into a new reality while still finding moments of joy and connection.

Perhaps most beautiful is how Mary has channeled her grief into creating the Wind Phone. 

The wind phone began in Japan in 2010 when Itaru Sasaki, a garden designer, built a phone booth in his yard so he could “talk” with a deceased relative. Months later, the Fukushima earthquate and tsumami hit; in a matter of minutes, more than 20,000 people died.

Sasaki opened the phone booth to his neighbors, who urgently needed a place to express their grief. Word spread, and soon people came on pilgrimage from around Japan to speak through the "phone of the wind" to those they loved. 

Mary heard about this and began to make plans, Soon, a British-style phone booth with a disconnected rotary phone where people can "call" their departed loved ones was set up at a local, public golf course; this public memorial has become a gathering place for community healing. 

Mary has painted hundreds of rocks bearing names of loved ones lost, creating a visual testament to shared grief, all while honoring her precious Oliver. Meanwhile, donations made in Oliver's memory have funded life-saving equipment for the fire department and scholarships for paramedic students.

Mary's story reminds us that grief doesn't follow predictable patterns, but through community connection, creative expression, and honoring our loved ones' legacies, we can learn to carry both our sorrow and our joy. Here's a wind phone website to find out about ones near you...and how to set one up! https://www.mywindphone.com/

"Dream Bird" by Jonny Easton

Support the show

Thank you for listening to Warrior Moms podcast. It is an honor to share about our beloved children gone too soon, and we hope by telling of our loss, it may help someone in their grief journey. Please note that we are not medical professionals and encourage those listening to seek help from mental health professionals. 

We'd love to hear from our followers! 

Please help support us, so we can help support other grieving moms. 
Websites: 

https://www.warriormoms.me/

https://www.warriormomssupportfoundation.org/

DONATE * Listen to Other Podcast Episodes * Sign up for Newsletter * Get on our Retreat Waitlist * Invite Us to Speak * Contact us!

With love,
Warrior Moms Amy & Michele

Thank you so much for listening! We'd love to hear from you---what you would love to hear, what you like, what helped, etc. With love, Warrior Moms Michele & Amy

Grief impacts every member of a family differently, but we rarely hear directly from children about their experience of loss. In this extraordinary conversation, 13-year-old Layla opens up about losing her brother Alec to addiction when she was just six years old, offering a rare window into a child's grief journey.

Layla's memories of her brother shine with admiration as she recalls him as "always my biggest role model" and shares touching stories of building elaborate cardboard forts together. Her perspective challenges common assumptions about childhood grief, revealing how deeply children comprehend loss despite their limited vocabulary to express it. With remarkable wisdom, she articulates how her young mind grappled with guilt, wondering if a missed goodbye hug might have somehow changed her brother's fate.

The conversation unveils the creative ways children process grief, from the journals Layla and her mother created to write letters to Alec, to the comfort objects and memorial activities that help maintain connection. Particularly moving is Layla's description of how grief manifests in ways adults might not recognize—heightened separation anxiety, fear of losing other family members, and grief that resurfaces years later as cognitive understanding develops.

Her advice to other grieving children is equally powerful: "Don't hide your emotions from your parents, even if you think it'll make things worse...they want you to talk to them."

Listen now to this touching conversation with Michele, Amy, and Layla that will forever change how you understand and support children through grief. Have you encountered a child dealing with loss? Share this episode to help others recognize the unique needs of grieving children.

"Dream Bird" by Jonny Easton

Support the show

Thank you for listening to Warrior Moms podcast. It is an honor to share about our beloved children gone too soon, and we hope by telling of our loss, it may help someone in their grief journey. Please note that we are not medical professionals and encourage those listening to seek help from mental health professionals. 

We'd love to hear from our followers! 

Please help support us, so we can help support other grieving moms. 
Websites: 

https://www.warriormoms.me/

https://www.warriormomssupportfoundation.org/

DONATE * Listen to Other Podcast Episodes * Sign up for Newsletter * Get on our Retreat Waitlist * Invite Us to Speak * Contact us!

With love,
Warrior Moms Amy & Michele

Thank you so much for listening! We'd love to hear from you---what you would love to hear, what you like, what helped, etc. With love, Warrior Moms Michele & Amy

Rebecca Buddin opens her heart about the passing of her vibrant 9-year-old daughter Emily to a horse-related accident in July 2024, sharing the raw reality of grief while demonstrating extraordinary resilience.

Emily was the quintessential horse girl – determined, passionate, and sporting her beloved purple cowgirl hat earned with her first rodeo winnings. Rebecca takes us through the beautiful memories of Emily's fierce love for barrel racing, from the moment at age four when she asked if spare change could buy her a horse, to becoming a competitive young rider whose spirit touched everyone around her.

The conversation shifts powerfully when Rebecca reveals how her younger daughter Harper, just seven at the time, declared "We're not quitting riding" after Emily's passing. This moment sparked Rebecca's profound realization: "If I tell her she can't quit, but I do, what am I showing her?" It's this question that propels her forward each day, even through tears and heartache.

Through the Purple Cowgirl Foundation, she's ensuring Emily becomes the famous barrel racer she dreamed of being, just not in the way they planned, while creating safety resources for the equestrian community and support for families facing similar losses.

Ready for a powerful reminder about living purposefully through unimaginable pain? Listen as Rebecca shows us what it means to take Harper's wise advice after grieving her best friend and sister: "You can take a minute," then keep moving forward with love and intention. Follow the Purple Cowgirl Foundation on Facebook to learn more about their safety awareness initiatives and support for grieving families.

"Dream Bird" by Jonny Easton

Support the show

Thank you for listening to Warrior Moms podcast. It is an honor to share about our beloved children gone too soon, and we hope by telling of our loss, it may help someone in their grief journey. Please note that we are not medical professionals and encourage those listening to seek help from mental health professionals. 

We'd love to hear from our followers! 

Please help support us, so we can help support other grieving moms. 
Websites: 

https://www.warriormoms.me/

https://www.warriormomssupportfoundation.org/

DONATE * Listen to Other Podcast Episodes * Sign up for Newsletter * Get on our Retreat Waitlist * Invite Us to Speak * Contact us!

With love,
Warrior Moms Amy & Michele