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He’d done it before and woken up euphoric. This time, he didn’t.”

“We left the house as four. We came back as three.”

It was just a normal school day. Isaac rode shotgun, grabbed his favourite Doritos, and ran upstairs like he always did. A few minutes later, Lisa called him for dinner. When he didn’t answer, she assumed he was playing a prank. But when she broke down the locked bathroom door, everything changed.

Isaac had used his school tie to take part in a dangerous social media challenge — one he’d tried before and survived. This time, he didn’t.

In this devastating episode, Lisa shares the moment she fought to save her 13 year-old son’s life, performing CPR on her own child while her daughter called 999. She talks about the surreal days in hospital, watching Isaac’s body begin to shut down, and the heartbreaking decision to say goodbye surrounded by family.

At 3:41pm on the 9th of March 2022, Lisa’s world changed forever.

Now, alongside other grieving parents, she’s turning her pain into purpose, fighting to educate young people and schools about the risks of online challenges, and preserving Isaac’s legacy through awareness, love and action.

In this honest and emotional conversation between two grieving mothers, we also talk about what grief really feels like — how the silence fills your house when they’re not in it, how you become transfixed on medical equipment, and how your entire identity shifts when your child dies.

This episode also pays tribute to the support Lisa received from COSMIC (Children of St Mary’s Intensive Care). https://cosmiccharity.org.uk/

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A loyal, vulnerable boy betrayed. They groomed him, they lured him, they stabbed him. A murder planned online, their posts, BECAME PROOF.

Olly Stephens was just 13 years old, a boy who loved doing wheelies, baking, cooking, making people laugh, and standing up for others. He was a son, a brother, a friend.

But his loyalty and vulnerability were exploited. Groomed by older boys who glamorised gang culture, and lured to a park by a girl he once called a friend, Olly was ambushed only yards from his home. Two stabs from a teenager’s knife ended his life and triggered a media surge to uncover the truth.

Social media played a devastating role, used to plan the murder and brag about weapons, but it also became the very evidence that convicted them.

In this episode, Olly’s mum, Amanda, shares who her son truly was, the painful reality of grooming and knife crime, and the grief of losing a child to violence. She also speaks about the court case that followed, and her determination to raise awareness so no other family has to endure the same loss.

Help following the topics raised today, can be found at the below websites, all of whom have helped Amanda.

https://benkinsella.org.uk/

https://no5.org.uk/

https://parentingspecialchildren.co.uk/

https://www.n3wangle.com/

https://startingpoint.org.uk/contact/

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From Warrington to the world — the LGBTQ+ community mourned Brianna Ghey after her tragic murder. But this is her mother’s story. Her pain. Her insight into who Brianna truly was.

Esther was a young single mum to two beautiful children — Brett and his sister. Life was full of memories until a “three became four” when she met her husband, and their family felt complete. Brett was openly gay, gymnastic-loving, and full of life, but lockdown hit hard. At 14, Brett blossomed into Brianna — a beautiful, makeup-loving young woman. Esther’s only concern was the medical impact of hormones, never acceptance.

Brianna’s teenage years became increasingly tangled with social media, and she was hospitalised after restricting her food intake and falling into dangerous online ideals of “skeletal beauty.”

In February 2023, a friend with ulterior motives and a peer with deep transphobia lured Brianna to a park, where she was brutally stabbed. Both killers are now serving over 20 years in prison.

Behind the headlines is a family — a mother, sister, and stepfather — grieving someone they adored. The world lit candles, vigils were held from Warrington to New York, and even Sam Smith wore a headdress with “Brianna Ghey” in her honour.

Today, Esther channels her grief into purpose — bringing mindfulness into schools, advocating for better mental health support, and keeping Brianna’s legacy alive. She has shared her story with the Prime Minister, written a book, and continues to speak out so that no other family has to endure the pain she lives with every day.https://www.briannaslegacy.org/

This episode is warmly sponsored by Love, Loss and Disco Balls — a unique card company bringing honesty, warmth, and colour to life’s hardest moments. Find out more: Lovelossdiscoballs.com