Don't Forget To Breathe: A Podcast for Living after Child Loss.
Don’t Forget To Breathe is a podcast for parents living after child loss, and for those walking beside them through grief. Hosted by bereaved parents Bruce Barker and Kristin Glenn, this show offers honest, compassionate conversations about life after child loss, long-term grief, healing, and learning how to keep living while carrying profound loss. Together, Bruce and Kristin create a space where grief does not need to be explained, and where parents can feel understood, supported, and less alone. Originally launched in 2020, the podcast began as a form of soul-cleansing and healing, as Bruce shared his journey as a father who suddenly lost his 20-year-old daughter in 2006, a tragedy no parent should ever have to endure. After a three-year hiatus marked by deep personal transformation, including divorce, closing a business, intensive therapy, and continued healing, the podcast returns with a renewed heart and a deeper, more expansive perspective. With Kristin joining as co-host in Season 4, the conversation widens. Drawing from decades of lived experience, Bruce and Kristin are joined by parents who bravely share their stories of grief, resilience, and life after the loss of a child. Together, they explore how grief changes over time, and how sorrow, hope, love, and even laughter can exist side by side. The podcast also creates space for spouses, family members, friends, and anyone walking beside a bereaved parent, offering insight into the realities of grief and the power of simply showing up with compassion and presence. You’ll hear the shift in voice, perspective, and presence, from surviving to living. Wherever you are in or around grief, this podcast offers connection, understanding, and the quiet reassurance that no one has to carry loss alone.
Episodes
In the beginning, everyone remembers.
People call. They check in. They remember birthdays and anniversaries. They ask how you're doing. But as the years pass, something begins to change. The calls become less frequent. Fewer people mention your child's name. Life continues moving forward for everyone around you, while your child remains just as much a part of your life as ever.
In this episode of Don't Forget To Breathe, ...
In Part 2 of our conversation with Erin Blechman, we begin with two words familiar to so many bereaved parents, “what if?”
What if I had noticed something? What if I had called? What if I had made a different decision?
Erin shares how guilt and child loss can become deeply intertwined, and offers a powerful reframing, turning “what if” into “even if,” as a way of confronting the painful...
Erin Blechman describes her son Max as one of the most interesting people she has ever known. He was intelligent, creative, compassionate, funny, and deeply sensitive. He played music, wrote poetry and short stories, performed stand up comedy, and cared deeply about the injustices he saw in the world.
Max also lived with major depressive disorder, and in June of 2020, at age 25, he died by suicide.
In Part 1 of this two p...
What happens when a group of mothers who have experienced the death of a child step away from everyday life and into the mountains together?
In this special episode of Don't Forget To Breathe, Kristin reunites with several of the moms who shared a retreat weekend in the Colorado mountains. Together, they reflect on what they carried home with them, the connections they formed, and what it means to spend time with people ...
Don’t Forget To Breathe
I still talk to you in empty rooms
In the silence and the Sunday afternoons
Some days I laugh
Some days I break
Some days I don’t know
What my heart can take
And everybody says that time moves on
But they don’t know a love this strong
So we carry what we cannot leave
And somehow learn to breathe
So don’t forget to breathe
When the night gets hard to see
When the world keeps moving on
An...
As Season 4 comes to a close, Bruce Barker reflects on an unforgettable year of conversations, courage, and connection.
In this special solo episode, Bruce looks back at some of the season's most impactful moments with guests including Tammy, Jamie and Cooper, Scott Allen, Marissa, and John DeDakis. He shares how their stories, along with conversations with co-host Kristin Glenn, have helped normalize grief, honor our ch...
Who were you before your child died? And who have you become since?
In this deeply personal conversation, Bruce Barker and Kristin Glenn explore one of the most profound realities of child loss: the person you were before your child died no longer exists.
Together, they reflect on how grief reshapes identity, relationships, priorities, purpose, and even the way we experience the world. They talk about losing not only a so...
Marissa's daughter, Skylar, died in 2015 at just four years old. More than a decade later, Marissa shares what many bereaved parents quietly experience: the love hasn't changed, the grief hasn't disappeared, and healing can sometimes feel like betraying the child you miss every day.
In this deeply vulnerable conversation, Marissa talks about the physical pain of grief, addiction as an attempt to numb unbearable sorrow, c...
Sometimes another person's words express exactly what our hearts have been trying to say.
In this special episode, Bruce and Kristin step away from the traditional interview format to share writings and reflections from several remarkable voices in the grief community, including Jameson Arasi, Paula Griffith, Donna Ashworth, and The Grief Table.
Together, they explore powerful themes including why grief is a lifelong expr...
What began as one father's way of surviving the loss of his daughter has grown into something far bigger than a podcast.
In this special episode, Bruce Barker and Kristin Glenn announce the launch of the Don't Forget To Breathe Foundation, a nonprofit created to expand connection, conversation, and community for bereaved parents and those who walk beside them.
Bruce and Kristin share the story behind the foundation, the u...
What happens when a journalist who spent decades telling other people's stories suddenly finds himself living the story he never wanted?
In this deeply thoughtful conversation, Bruce Barker and Kristin Glenn welcome author, journalist, writing coach, and bereaved father John DeDakis. Together, they explore the life and legacy of John's son, Stephen, the realities of grief after child loss, and the lessons John has learne...
As we release this episode on Father's Day weekend, we recognize that this day can carry many emotions for bereaved fathers. It can be a day of love, remembrance, gratitude, heartache, and longing, often all at the same time.
In this special conversation, Bruce and Kristin sit down with Scott Allen to talk about his daughter, Jamie Summer Allen, a gifted mother of eight, talented musician, massage therapist, and deeply c...
In Part 2 of I Don't Know What To Say to a Grieving Parent, Bruce Barker and Kristin Glenn continue their conversation for those supporting a bereaved parent.
This episode focuses on why positivity can feel dismissive, why grief cannot be fixed, and why presence matters more than advice, answers, or silver linings.
Bruce and Kristin talk about the difference between support and fixing, the harm of phrases like “stay...
What do you say to a grieving parent?
For many people, the fear of saying the wrong thing leads to silence, distance, and disappearance. But for bereaved parents, that silence often hurts far more than imperfect words ever could.
In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Bruce Barker and Kristin Glenn speak directly to the friends, family members, co-workers, and supporters who want to help grieving parents but feel unsure...
In part two of this heartfelt conversation, Cooper shares what it has been like navigating life after the loss of his brother, Parker, following part one’s conversation with their mom, Jamie.
Cooper speaks openly about the silence that filled their home after Parker died, the loss of motivation that followed, and the way grief evolved over time, from regret about the past to longing for the future they should have ...
In Part 1 of this deeply personal conversation, Jamie shares the story of her son Parker, a vibrant, fearless ten-year-old whose life was tragically cut short during the Baja 500 in Mexico.
What follows is a raw and honest discussion about the moments that changed everything, the chaos and heartbreak of navigating unimaginable loss in a foreign country, and the impossible task of surviving while trying to hold a family t...
We live in a world wired to fix things. But grief, especially child loss, is not something that can be fixed.
In this episode, Bruce and Kristin explore the powerful shift from being a “fixer” to becoming a “witness.” Together, they unpack the instinct to ease pain, the discomfort that often causes people to pull away, and the quiet, lasting impact of simply staying present.
This conversation is fo...
In this deeply moving episode of Don’t Forget To Breathe, Tammy shares the story of her son, Easton, a bright, joyful little boy who was deeply loved and long awaited.
What began as a normal season of life turned into unimaginable loss in a matter of hours. Tammy walks us through the shock of losing Easton, the trauma of those final moments, and the long road of learning to live with grief that doesn’t go awa...
There’s a moment many grieving parents experience, but rarely say out loud.
A moment where laughter returns, or a sense of lightness breaks through… and almost immediately, it’s followed by guilt.
In this episode, Bruce and Kristin explore the complex and often conflicting emotions that arise when joy reenters life after child loss. Why does happiness feel like betrayal? Why do we question our right to ...
In Part 2 of Gina’s story, we move beyond the moment everything changed and into the long, complicated reality of living after child loss. This conversation holds space for what grief becomes over time, the loneliness that cannot be fixed, the misunderstandings that even well-meaning people carry, and the deeply personal work of healing.
Gina shares what it means to feel “Gabe-sized loneliness,” a space...
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