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Welcome to To the Moon and Back. I’m Lisa Wright, and with me is Portia Turbo — iconic Sydney drag queen, trivia queen, perfume oracle, and a bestie of almost 15 years. We met at one of her infamous trivia nights and have spent years wandering art galleries, laughing ourselves silly, and navigating life’s unexpected twists together.
In this first episode, we talk honestly about friendship, joy, and my recent diagnosis of ALS — and what it means to face something big with humour, love, and the people who hold you up.
9 Episodes
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Send a text Episode 9 starts with pirate patches and a nostalgic detour into Photios Brothers — Sydney’s legendary costume and fabric wonderland — before Lisa shares some genuinely good news: several key blood markers are finally moving back into normal range. From there it’s the usual Lisa and Portia mix of laughter, frustration with the medical system, and celebrating the small wins that keep you going. Support the show Thank you for listening to ALS - To the Moon and Back. If this episode...
Send a text An eye sty, a half-built microphone, and Lisa recording from an actual zero-G “hospital bed” setup… and then we get into the big one: dead-end moments with ALS. Lisa shares what hit hardest after a visit from MND NSW, why the system can make you feel boxed in, and how perspective can mess with your head (especially when you’re convinced you’re declining and your physio’s like, “Mate… you’re doing great.”) They cover the tools that help: swimming, meditation, singing, sorting the m...
Send a text ALS to the Moon and Back — Episode 7 This one is a classic wandering chat. We start with biblical rain, leaking dams, and a surprisingly detailed conversation about vetiver (yes… the grass 😅), before moving into what’s really been on my mind lately. We touch on the equipment block — that frustrating space where funding might exist on paper, but actually accessing the right consumables and support is a whole different story. It’s one of the realities of living with ALS that doesn’t...
Send a text New episode of ALS to the Moon and Back 🎧 This one starts exactly how most of our chats do — with absolutely no plan — and then somehow lands in some pretty honest territory. Portia and I talk about easing back into movement, why water feels so good right now, the weird emotional hangover that can come with New Year, and what happens when you stop brushing things off and actually let yourself feel them. There’s laughter, swearing, a bit of reflection, and the discovery that smashi...
Send a text In this episode of ALS to the Moon and Back, Lisa and Portia ease into the post-Christmas slowdown with warmth, humour, and the kind of conversation that only happens between people who truly care for each other. The discussion then turns to the “provider wall” Lisa encountered while trying to access Edaravone treatment close to home. Lisa shares what happened, why she was blocked, and how navigating treatment can become unexpectedly complex — especially outside major cities. She ...
Send a text ALS to the Moon and Back — Podcast Intro Recording’s in progress… and before we get into anything remotely sensible, Portia Turbo is over here singing “We wish you a Merry Christmas” and casually wishing everyone a “happy new gonorrhea”, which feels… on brand. I’m Lisa Wright — I live out at Mount Murray Farm in the Southern Highlands, I’ve got dogs that refuse to let anyone have a serious conversation uninterrupted, and I’ve recently found myself living in a world I never planned...
Send a text In this episode of ALS to the Moon and Back, Portia and I finally get to the thing we were always going to get to… timelines. You know the ones. The point scores. The predictions. The question people ask — sometimes quietly, sometimes not — “How long have you got?” I talk about the timelines I’ve been given since being diagnosed with ALS, why I don’t see them as a fixed truth, and how I actually live alongside that information without letting it run the show. We talk about what ...
Send a text Access Denied In this episode of ALS to the Moon and Back, Portia and I get stuck into something pretty raw and, honestly, a bit outrageous — what actually happened when I was prescribed Edaravone and then couldn’t get it, even though it was on the PBS and everyone was telling me how “great” it was going to be. We talk about the quiet side of ALS/MND that doesn’t get spoken about much: the people who haven’t even told their families yet, the pressure to stay small and “not make a ...
Send a text To the Moon and Back is a new podcast hosted by Lisa Wright and iconic Sydney drag queen Portia Turbo — two longtime friends exploring life, love, art, perfume, dogs, grief, humour, and the unexpected twists that shape us. In Episode One, Lisa shares her recent diagnosis of ALS and the two talk openly (and often hilariously - we thinks so anyway) about how life changes when everything changes — and how friendship becomes the anchor that gets you through. Raw, real, thoughtful, war...
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