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

A four-year-old who loves songs, big laughs, and making faces on stage should be worrying about preschool, not chemotherapy. Our guest, Kimberly Crumby, tells the story of her daughter Hannah Grace, whose childhood leukemia diagnosis in 2009 turned into a medical roller coaster of strokes, infections, ventilators, and heartbreaking decisions that no parent is ever prepared to face.

We go beyond the headline loss and talk about what bereaved parents actually carry after the death of a child: trauma that lives in the body, sleepless nights that replay hospital scenes, the slow pull of “high-functioning” depression, and the strain grief can put on a marriage when two people hurt in different ways. Kimberly shares why counseling and talking with your physician can matter, how medication can help you get a foothold without numbing your love, and why survival sometimes looks like getting through one ordinary day at a time.

We also name the kind of grief many outsiders miss: future grief. Birthdays, kindergarten, high school graduation, and all the imagined milestones can hit like fresh waves years later, especially when social media keeps the comparisons in your face. Kimberly and I talk about what helps from friends and church community too, including practical support, showing up without trying to fix anything, and saying your child’s name because forgetting is the fear.

If you’re navigating child loss, or supporting a grieving parent, we hope this conversation gives you language, tools, and real hope rooted in faith, including Kimberly’s anchor passage from Lamentations 3.  Share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more hurting families can find this support.
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*** If  you find this podcast helpful and encouraging, please leave us a review by clicking one the links below:
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You can contact us by email at: hope@emptychairendeavor.com
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What happens to a parent’s faith after losing a child? Sandy Cooper shares her deeply personal journey after the sudden death of her nine-month-old son, Noah. We talk honestly about child-loss grief, the shock and confusion that follow, anger and questions about God, and learning to live when life is forever changed.
Sandy also shares what helped her survive those first days and months, what grieving parents need from family and friends, how child loss affects marriage, and how Christian faith can survive even when God seems silent.
If you are grieving the death of a child—or walking alongside someone who is—this conversation offers honest companionship, understanding, and hope.

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*** If  you find this podcast helpful and encouraging, please leave us a review by clicking one the links below:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/ 
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 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/
Send us Fan Mail

*** If  you find this podcast helpful and encouraging, please leave us a review by clicking one the links below:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/ 
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/

Send us Fan Mail

*** If  you find this podcast helpful and encouraging, please leave us a review by clicking one the links below:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/ 
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/
Send us Fan Mail

*** If  you find this podcast helpful and encouraging, please leave us a review by clicking one the links below:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hope-after-child-sibling-loss-the-empty-chair-endeavor/ 
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!