One Bright Star - Life After Loss

One Bright Star was founded in 1998 by four mothers who, in their grief, came together to embark on a mission to be a resource to families who have suffered the death of a child. The organization has a physical memorial site at Ray Erlandson Park in Mankato, Minnesota. On this Life After Loss podcast, Executive Director, Erica Fisher and board member, Alicia More, discuss the many ways the nonprofit helps its bereaved families. Fro...

March is Trisomy awareness month. Trisomy is a genetic condition where a person has an extra chromosome and it comes in different forms including: Trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome), Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) and Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome). Each journey is unique and on this edition of our Life After Loss podcast, we are joined by Paige Hawkins who educates us on Trisomy 18. Paige and her husband, Greg, suffered multiple Trisomy 18 lo...

One Bright Star held its annual fall children's memorial service on Sunday, September 29, 2024 at Erlandson Park in Mankato, Minnesota. The program featured a welcome message from Erica Fischer, executive director and Becca Roberson, president of One Bright Star; music by In A Bind piano and vocals; an invocation prayer read by Matt Sipe; guest speaker, Danielle Duffey; a poem: As We Remember Them, read by Chris Oldenburg; One Brig...

Mankato, Minnesota nonprofit, One Bright Star, offers grants to families and individuals to attend a grief retreat in Danbury, Wisconsin called Faith's Lodge. It's a safe place for families to gather who have suffered child loss. On this Life After Loss podcast, we are joined by Joan Stanford. Her son, Jeremy, died in 2019 to veterans suicide. Joan was the first recipient of a One Bright Star grant to attend Faith's Lod...

Danielle Duffey returns to our podcast three years after her first appearance to talk about her ongoing grief journey. In 2016, she and her husband lost their 17-month old son, Blake, to a medical mystery called: Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC). Danielle felt very much alone, suffering in silence and feeling like she was drowning in her grief. She didn't know how to express her sorrow and couldn't move forward ...

Tiffany Ward joins our podcast to talk about the extraordinary life of her mother, Cheryl. Although her mom's passing was just a short time ago, Tiffany beams as she talks about their relationship and how Cheryl touched so many lives. Because Cheryl had so many life experiences, she connected very easily with others and helped them navigate through their own trials and tribulations. At one point, Tiffany found herself grieving ...

One Bright Star board of directors members Tracy Davies and Nicole Van Sickle join our podcast to talk about their own grief journey. Both have suffered the death of a child and share their stories about a grief journey that is emotional and ongoing. Part of that journey brought them to a retreat in Wisconsin called Faith's Lodge. It's a safe place where parents and families come to explore their inner-most feelings with ot...

Executive Director, Erica Fischer and board member, Alicia More, take a look back at 2023 and discuss everything One Bright Star was able to accomplish for its grieving families. From setting up grant programs to help parents attend retreats at Faith's Lodge in Danbury, Wisconsin to Mothers of Angels events to connecting with bereaved parents through Comfort Conversations, OBS, with the help of its many financial supporters was...

Dena and Travis Iverson suffered the stillbirth of their daughter, Cassie. They already had a son, Clayton, and they knew they wanted more children but it was a complicated process. Dena joins our podcast to talk about the emotional toll Cassie's loss took on them but they pushed forward, even after having three additional miscarriages. Dena wants her message for others to be that there is no fast-track to healing, it will wait...

Joan Stanford lost her son, Jeremy Reinarts, to veteran suicide in 2019. Jeremy was an Iraq war vet. Upon his return to civilian life, he suffered with mental illness, PTSD, and, like many veterans, had a difficult time with reintegration. Joan talks about her struggle with loneliness and the difficulties in her life with processing her sons death and her continued journey to keep Jeremy's memory alive. Joan says, "there a...

Jonna Hruby is a funeral director with Mankato Mortuary and a board member with One Bright Star. She is often times the first person that people come into contact with after a death. In her role, Jonna shares how important it is to help people begin the grieving process and be supportive and empathetic along the way. She details how difficult it is, not only for families, but also for her personally as a funeral director. Making su...