Growing up, a friend was someone you could share your snack with, tell your secrets to, and play with at recess. Of course, that changes with adulthood. But how does this change when you are a parent of a medically complex child? What does friendship look like when your days and nights are spend caregiving?

Susan and Katrina chat about just that. You will hear how they have found and maintained friendships, when they really don’t have time or energy to spare. With those friendships, they have built an amazing community of moms, willing to help each other out, even when it comes to international travel.

“I almost didn’t get on that plane.” -Katrina

Here’s what you don’t want to miss:

• Community in isolation
• Trauma vs healing
• Beauty in the story
• Long distance
• Community

Touch base with us in the When Autumn Comes Society or send us a DM on Instagram! We’d love to hear from you! While you’re at it, consider supporting the podcast .

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What happens when internet friends meet in real life? Does Suz smell bad? Is Katrina super short? Join us to find out!

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• Follow Katrina: @kattymac
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Any parent of a child with a rare disease hopes for a cure, a treatment, anything to improve their child’s quality of life. We often hear about new developments in medicine for more common illnesses, but are our young zebras forgotten? Is someone doing something to help? Today, Susan gets to speak with Dr Keri-Lyn Kozul, one of the researchers studying the Benji and Lorelei’s specific disease. Parents, we hope this episode gives you hope, that there are people working on this, good people who truly care.

Dr Keri-Lyn Kozul works in the Niemi Lab at Wash U in St Louis, Missouri. During her PhD, Dr Kozul was one of the first scientists to define the mechanisms of FBXL 4 disease in 2023. We are sure that you can tell from this episode, Dr Kozul’s focus and passion is to help children like Lorelei and Benji, and help find answers for families with FBXL 4 disease.

“Three years ago, we wouldn’t even be able to think about these things.” -Dr Kozul

Here’s what you don’t want to miss:

• Life in the lab
• Baking
• Support for families
• Treatment
• Call to action

Vote for Dr Kozul!:UMDF Accelerators

Contact Dr Kozul at kozul@wustl.edu if you have questions about this research.

Touch base with us in the When Autumn Comes Society or send us a DM on Instagram! We’d love to hear from you! While you’re at it, consider supporting the podcast .

When Autumn Comes:

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