A Place of Yes | A Grief Podcast

It’s been just over two years since Melissa Allen lost her daughter, Liv, after a sudden illness at 18 years old. Melissa has joined Heather on A Place of Yes before, but grief looks different now. Some days she can work, laugh, show up for the people she loves, and feel genuinely grateful for her life. Other days, a photograph can send her right back to the earliest days of loss. And as her younger daughter, Sophia, graduated from high school and left for college, Melissa found herself confronting an entirely new layer of grief: watching one daughter reach the milestones the other never had the chance to experience.
In this conversation, Melissa and Heather talk honestly about what child loss looks like years later and the losses that continue to emerge as life moves forward. They discuss the complicated mix of pride and heartbreak that comes with watching their surviving children grow up, the strange loneliness of an empty nest after losing a child, and the work of allowing yourself to have terrible days without letting them consume your life. Melissa also reflects on how the Live Like Liv Foundation has given her a way to help others and keep Liv’s memory present, while acknowledging that grief work can sometimes carry its own emotional cost. Together, she and Heather talk about giving their living children space to build lives of their own, finding comfort in the smallest memories, and the perspective that comes from experiencing the unimaginable. As Melissa puts it, “death humbles you”—and more than two years later, she is still learning what it means to carry that truth forward.
Resources & Ways to Connect
Live Like Liv Foundation: https://livelikelivfoundation.org/

Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/

Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelp

Jake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelp

APOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcast

Heather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughter

Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcast

For more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/

Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

Angelina was just three and a half years old when she was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma. Faced with devastating odds, her mom, Danielle Phillips, made a promise: if there came a point when treatment was no longer working, she wanted enough time to help Angelina do something incredible. What followed were seven and a half years of treatment, but also a life filled with huge birthday parties, cruises, Disney trips, indoor skydiving, swimming with sea turtles, ziplining in Hawaii, and checking off as much of Angelina’s bucket list as they possibly could. Even as the end approached, Danielle kept going, determined that cancer might shape Angelina’s life, but it would never be the only thing that defined it.
In this conversation, Danielle and Heather talk about parenting a child with cancer, making impossible decisions, and what it means to help your child not just survive, but truly live. Danielle shares the story behind Angelina’s adventures, the final whirlwind of trips they took together, and the conversation shortly before Angelina died that reassured her they had done exactly what they set out to do. They also explore the ripple effect Angelina’s story had on other families facing childhood cancer and how, after her death, Danielle created They Were Here to preserve the stories and lessons of people who are gone. It’s a funny, heartbreaking, and life-affirming conversation about making the time you have count and ensuring the people we love are remembered for how they lived—not simply how they died.
Resources & Ways to Connect
They Were Here: https://theywereherelessons.org/

Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/

Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelp

Jake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelp

APOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcast

Heather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughter

Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcast

For more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/

Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

David Ferrugio was just 12 years old when his father was killed in the September 11th attacks. Growing up in a New Jersey commuter town, David went to school that morning knowing his dad worked in the World Trade Center but with no way to comprehend what was unfolding. More than two decades later, he still lives with a uniquely public kind of grief—one where the day his father died belongs, in some way, to everyone. From unexpectedly encountering footage of the attacks to grieving the relationship with his dad he never got to have as an adult, that loss has profoundly shaped the way David thinks about death, life, and what we do with the time we're given.
In this conversation, David and Heather talk candidly about losing a parent young, the strange reality of grieving someone whose death is part of history, and why humor—even the wildly inappropriate kind—can sometimes help us carry the unbearable. David shares how repeatedly confronting the footage of 9/11 became part of his own grieving process, why he believes getting unstuck requires both grace and accountability, and how his father's death ultimately led him to create the podcast DEAD Talks. They also explore post-traumatic growth, survivor's guilt, mediumship, the possibility of an afterlife, and the importance of staying present when you know firsthand how quickly everything can change. It's an honest, sometimes funny conversation about accepting the absurdity of life and death, leaving room for the "maybe," and choosing to keep living when someone you love no longer can.
Resources & Ways to Connect
You're Not Dead Yet: https://a.co/d/0fcJmUZB
DEAD Talks: https://deadtalks.net/

Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/

Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelp

Jake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelp

APOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcast

Heather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughter

Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcast

For more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/

Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

Brad Wolfe has spent much of his life asking what gives life meaning. As the grandson of Auschwitz survivors, he grew up hearing stories of unimaginable suffering, survival, and the kind of love that can still exist after profound trauma. Later, when his close friend Sarah was diagnosed with a rare pediatric cancer, Brad found himself showing up at her bedside with the one language he knew best: music. Writing songs for Sarah during her illness became both an offering to her and the beginning of a larger question that would shape his life and work: why wait to live with more love, purpose, and compassion?
In this conversation, Brad and Heather talk about grief, music, post-traumatic growth, and the ways pain can become something meaningful without ever making the loss itself okay. Brad shares the story of his grandparents, the lessons his grandmother left behind, the friendship that inspired his early work with pediatric cancer families, and the creation of Reimagine, a community built around helping people face death and embrace life. They also explore what it means to keep showing up, how small acts of service can carry someone’s memory forward, and why the people we lose can continue shaping how we live. It’s a thoughtful conversation about love, legacy, creativity, and choosing not to wait for some later moment to live more fully.
Resources & Ways to Connect
Reimagine Website: https://letsreimagine.org/

Brad Wolfe and the Moon: https://www.bradwolfe.com/

Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/

Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelp

Jake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelp

APOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcast

Heather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughter

Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcast

For more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/

Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/

For most people in Saratoga Springs, Patrick Pipino is known as the guy who always shows up. Whether he's organizing community events, teaching someone how to snowmobile, baking sourdough for friends, or helping a neighbor in need, Pat has built a reputation around generosity and connection. But behind that outward kindness is a loss he has carried for nearly four decades. When Pat was 19 years old, his younger sister Meredith was killed in a tragic house fire set by an arsonist. She was just 13 years old. In an instant, his family was forever changed, leaving behind questions, heartbreak, and a grief that would follow them for the rest of their lives.
In this conversation, Pat and Heather talk about sibling loss, survivor's guilt, and the complicated ways grief evolves over time. Pat shares the lasting impact Meredith's death had on his mother, his brother, and his own understanding of family, as well as the guilt he still wrestles with decades later. They explore what it means to keep someone's memory alive, the challenge of living with unanswered questions, and why small acts of kindness have become such an important part of Pat's life. Along the way, they discuss social media, community, parenting, and the quiet ways the people we love continue shaping who we become long after they're gone. It's an honest conversation about loss, guilt, legacy, and learning to carry grief without letting it define you.
Resources & Ways to Connect
Jake’s Help from Heaven Website: http://jakeshelpfromheaven.org/

Jake’s Help from Heaven Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakeshelp

Jake’s Help from Heaven Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeshelp

APOY Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aplaceofyespodcast

Heather’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathersstraughter

Our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aplaceofyespodcast

For more of Heather’s writing and thoughts: https://ohheather.substack.com/

Everything’s Jakey (Substack): https://everythingsjakey.substack.com/