Mothers Really Are Superheroes: The Mother's Day Special

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I thought it was pretty difficult to find a mom as awesome as mine. I realized that as much as I love my own mama, there are totally moms out there that deserve to tell their own stories. My own mother's story of resilience and strength gives me motivation every single day. 

With this thought I pondered, What Mothers can I find for this show? To be completely honest, I had a completely different guest planned for this segment, but as life had it they postponed and left me with an empty slot. 

I describe our podcast to be like my blog, just in real life. In my blog, I learned that my own vulnerabilities and imperfections resinated with more people.  
Well, it was time I found someone that fit the bill for the show. 

Writer, wife and mother, Sallie Mae is a writer for our digital magazine and last year, took us on an unspeakable journey of self exploration and empowerment and strength. Being Guatemalan and raised in Southern Louisiana by 2 caucasian parents didn't come without its share of learning curves. 
Sallie navigated throughout her younger years surrounded by love of her  adopted family, but also longed to find her birth family back in Guatemala. 
She learned early own of her differences with the typical American Family. 

While on this broadening journey of identity and investigation, Douglas and I met 
Sallie Mae.  And in those first moments, everything in our lives stopped. The sounds went quiet. Except for the beating of my heart pounding out of my chest. 
8 1/2 years ago, Sallie Mae changed our lives forever. 
Listen to the story now and in a bit read her work in our digital magazine at
www.nolapapa.com/digital-magazine

Then later we welcome another resilient and cool cat named Michael Cramer. He is a 22-year-old cancer survivor, bone marrow transplant recipient, social media influencer, motivational hero. He was a surfer, skater, on the Olympic Development team for windsurfing.  Stricken with multiple sicknesses, Michael's mama, Ashlee Cramer rushed by her son's side and has been there ever since.  
In 2014 her husband was diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma. She became the sole source of income, the caregiver for her husband, as well as mom and dad to their three children. Tragically, he died in 2016, but this only brought the family closer. July 14, 2020, heartbreak hit again. Michael was diagnosed with an insanely rare and aggressive cancer, Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma. Less than 200 documented cases ever. Average survival 8 months. 
Ashlee quit her job to be with Michael full-time. Miraculously, 3 years later, Michael’s alive. He’s been through chemo, radiation, bone marrow transplant, near fatal GVHD (graft versus host disease), hospital admissions for gastroparesis, liver failure, AVN (avascular necrosis), it goes on. Through it all, Ashlee never left his side, and their relationship became an unbreakable bond. Together the two have taken this heartbreak and found “beauty in pain”. It’s their theme.  That and “love”.

The journey of

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