Hope After Child & Sibling Loss: An Empty Chair Endeavor Podcast

A 21-year-old newlywed. Ovarian cancer. A mother watching the unthinkable unfold while trying to keep breathing. I’m joined by Jeanette Henning as she tells the story of her daughter, Melissa Camp, who died in February 2001 just three months after marrying Christian music artist Jeremy Camp. The details are tender and raw: the surprises in the hospital, the moments that felt like miracles, and the shock of realizing that even when you’re praying hard for healing, the outcome can still break your heart. 

We talk honestly about what grief does after child loss, not just emotionally, but physically and relationally. Jeanette shares how different family members grieve in different ways, why that can feel isolating, and what she learned when she stopped expecting her husband or her kids to fill the void. If you’re a bereaved parent searching for Christian grief support, we spend real time on lament, the freedom to bring anger and questions to God, and the slow work of learning how sorrow and joy can coexist over decades. 

Jeanette also explains how Melissa’s journals became a lifeline and later a message for the world through the book Melissa: If One Life, plus a devotional journal focused on intimacy with God. We connect that legacy to the film I Still Believe and the ripple effect that continues as people write in to say, “I’m the one life.” If you need hope after tragedy, or you’re trying to understand faith in suffering, this conversation offers a steady place to land. Please share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the line that hit you hardest. To learn more about Janette, Melissa’s story, and Umbrella Ministries, click the links below.
*** https://www.janettehenning.com/about
*** https://www.umbrellaministries.com/
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*** If you have an Apple account, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy this podcast by clicking the link below. By doing so you help increase our visibility and discoverability for others, and we value your feedback!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/id1654053256
**** You can also opt to leave a review or rating on Podchasers by clicking the link below. Your opinions matter and mean so much to us!
https://www.podchaser.com/HopeAfterChildSiblingLossTheEmptyChairEndeavor

You can contact us by email at: hope@emptychairendeavor.com
If you would like to share your story on an upcoming episode, please send us an email so that we can talk with you about it.
Thank you for listening!

One minute you’re talking in the driveway, and the next minute your whole life splits into before and after. Sharon Hawkins joins us to tell the story of her son Bradley, a larger-than-life 21-year-old with a contagious laugh, an Eagle Scout’s grit, and a heart that kept pulling toward home. She also shares the moment that still feels unreal: Bradley’s sudden death after a skateboarding fall, and the blessing of a sweet visit just hours before. 

Bradley’s story starts even earlier, in Kharkov, Ukraine, where Sharon and her husband Scott adopted him from an orphanage in 2001. We talk candidly about international adoption, early neglect, attachment and bonding struggles, and his diagnosis of reactive attachment disorder. Sharon explains what those years are really like inside a family, how faith and steady mentors kept showing up, and why she holds tight to the hope that Bradley belongs to Jesus. 

We also get practical for bereaved parents and anyone who wants to support them: why “being present” matters more than advice, what to say when you don’t have words, and ways to carry memory forward through letters, photos, recordings, keepsakes, fundraisers, and traditions. Sharon shares her ongoing ministry, Grace in the Wilderness, plus her podcast Finding Grace in the Wilderness, built around Isaiah 43:19 and the promise that God makes a way in the wilderness. 

If this conversation helps you, please subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more grieving families can find real hope and support.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finding-grace-in-the-wilderness/id1755067020
http://www.wildernessgrace.org/

Share any comments here

*** If you have an Apple account, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy this podcast by clicking the link below. By doing so you help increase our visibility and discoverability for others, and we value your feedback!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/id1654053256
**** You can also opt to leave a review or rating on Podchasers by clicking the link below. Your opinions matter and mean so much to us!
https://www.podchaser.com/HopeAfterChildSiblingLossTheEmptyChairEndeavor

You can contact us by email at: hope@emptychairendeavor.com
If you would like to share your story on an upcoming episode, please send us an email so that we can talk with you about it.
Thank you for listening!

Thirteen days can change an entire family’s history. We sit down with Cheri Fletcher to remember her daughter Annie, a 29-year-old singer-songwriter, social worker, and photographer whose sudden decline ended in an unthinkable goodbye. With honesty and tenderness, Cheri walks us through what it’s like to lose an adult child to an aggressive cancer she did not even know was there, and how shock lingers long after the hospital. 

We also get practical about what grief really does. Cheri describes grief brain, the fog that makes reading hard and memory unreliable, the physical exhaustion that settles into daily life, and the way fear can spike when another loved one is late to return a call. We talk marriage and family dynamics, why counseling can help couples grieve in different ways without turning on each other, and how giving space and grace becomes a daily decision. 

A major thread is faith in suffering. When prayer feels impossible, Cheri shares how God met her through friends who kept sending scripture and personalized prayers, and how she learned to see God’s presence without minimizing pain. She also offers a perspective that stopped her in my tracks: God misses watching Annie too. 

Finally, we dig into the moment so many people dread: “I don’t know what to say.” Cheri created “Beyond I Don’t Know What To Say” grief cards to help friends and churches show up with courage, ask meaningful questions, and keep a child’s name present. Listen regularly for more hope-filled conversations, and share this with someone walking through loss, and leave a review so more grieving families can find this support.
https://cherifletcher.com/
Share any comments here

*** If you have an Apple account, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy this podcast by clicking the link below. By doing so you help increase our visibility and discoverability for others, and we value your feedback!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/id1654053256
**** You can also opt to leave a review or rating on Podchasers by clicking the link below. Your opinions matter and mean so much to us!
https://www.podchaser.com/HopeAfterChildSiblingLossTheEmptyChairEndeavor

You can contact us by email at: hope@emptychairendeavor.com
If you would like to share your story on an upcoming episode, please send us an email so that we can talk with you about it.
Thank you for listening!

We sit down with Roxanne Hutchison to talk through the unthinkable reality of losing three children and a son-in-law and what it takes to keep living when your family feels shredded. We explore honest faith, the loneliness of stillbirth and child loss, and the slow work of learning to grieve with hope instead of pretending you’re fine.
• how Roxanne and Craig’s early faith and marriage foundation shape their endurance
• the trauma of stillbirth and why neonatal loss is often dismissed or misunderstood
• grief as a roller coaster and why isolating silence can hurt as much as words
• the myth of “do everything right and life works” and what a broken world exposes
• mental health, rare diagnoses, and the long shadow of medical crises
• what life looks like after the funeral when routine tasks become triggers
• what grieving parents actually need from friends: presence, listening, practical help
• lament, the Psalms, and rebuilding trust in God over time
• the Romans 8 promise that becomes a lifeline
I hope that you'll rejoin us again in two weeks to hear another story of hope and healing in the life of another grieving parent.

Share any comments here

*** If you have an Apple account, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy this podcast by clicking the link below. By doing so you help increase our visibility and discoverability for others, and we value your feedback!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/id1654053256
**** You can also opt to leave a review or rating on Podchasers by clicking the link below. Your opinions matter and mean so much to us!
https://www.podchaser.com/HopeAfterChildSiblingLossTheEmptyChairEndeavor

You can contact us by email at: hope@emptychairendeavor.com
If you would like to share your story on an upcoming episode, please send us an email so that we can talk with you about it.
Thank you for listening!

A sudden illness can take a child in days, but the grief can echo for decades and it changes far more than most people realize. I’m joined by Ron and Nan Deal as they share the story of losing their 12-year-old son, Connor, and what 17 years of child loss grief has taught them about love, memory, triggers, and the hard work of continuing to live.

We talk about a mom’s experience of loss, including the moment Nan describes leaving the hospital and feeling like she’s losing part of herself. We also get painfully practical about grief triggers, why “sweet without bitter” becomes a normal tension, and how grief intensity can shift over time without ever fully ending. If you’re a bereaved parent, or you love someone who is, you’ll hear language that makes the invisible parts of grief easier to name.

Then we go straight at marriage after the death of a child: the scary divorce statistic people repeat, what the actual research suggests, and how couples can protect their connection when one spouse needs words and the other needs quiet. We also discuss surviving siblings, fear and hypervigilance, and why honesty at home matters more than pretending to be strong. Ron and Nan share two memorable tools: protecting a “grief garden” with healthy boundaries, and “grieving between the rails” where sadness and hope run parallel, just like biblical lament. We end with the Scriptures they’ve clung to, including Proverbs 3:5–6 and the raw honesty of Psalm 22.

I’ll include the Focus on the Family video link they reference in the episode notes. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with someone who needs language for their pain, and leave a review so more grieving families can find it.
Click the link below to view Ron and Nan’s Focus on the Family video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwC0xmKjccs
Share any comments here

*** If you have an Apple account, please take a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy this podcast by clicking the link below. By doing so you help increase our visibility and discoverability for others, and we value your feedback!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/id1654053256
**** You can also opt to leave a review or rating on Podchasers by clicking the link below. Your opinions matter and mean so much to us!
https://www.podchaser.com/HopeAfterChildSiblingLossTheEmptyChairEndeavor

You can contact us by email at: hope@emptychairendeavor.com
If you would like to share your story on an upcoming episode, please send us an email so that we can talk with you about it.
Thank you for listening!