Claim OwnershipHope After Child Loss/The Empty Chair Endeavor
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© 2024 Hope After Child Loss/The Empty Chair Endeavor
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An outreach of The Empty Chair Endeavor designed to support and equip survivors of child loss in rediscovering life, hope, and joy after unspeakable tragedy. Additionally, our mission involves educating the public about the life altering impact the death of a child has upon survivors, both parents and siblings, and equipping them to better support and minister to them. Join us as guests share their stories of heartbreaking loss and how God has shown up on their journeys to restore hope, meaning and purpose. The host, Greg Buffkin, lives with his wife Cathy in South Carolina. Because Cathy and Greg lost their beautiful son Ryan to suicide in 2015, they understand the trauma and pain of losing a child. On a journey that began 8 years ago out of unspeakable trauma and brokenness, GOD has brought them through to a place of restoration, hope and joy with a passion to help fellow survivors on their journeys.
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With no symptoms or warning signs to prepare her for what was to come after an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery, Stacey and her husband Richard's beautiful baby daughter Trinity died shortly after birth in February 2006 leaving them crushed and broken. Doctors could only speculate on the cause, but ultimately it was to remain a mystery. How do young parents process such a traumatic loss and shattered hopes and dreams? As Stacey and I talk about her journey from the unthinkable, she candid...
By most accounts, March 18, 2023 was just another ordinary day in Abilene, Texas. For Deana Morris and her family it was the day that turned their lives upside down as they discovered their dearly loved 28 year old son Travis had taken his own life. Suicide blindsides loved ones, leaving them with unbearable pain, a lifetime of too many unanswered questions and an additional layer of complication to their already unspeakable grief. Join us as Deana and I talk about her journey over the past s...
In the U.S., approximately 270 people die of a drug overdose every day based upon May, 2024 statistics. For Kellie Sipos and her family, these statistics became very personal on July 22, 2018 when their precious 24 year old daughter, Emilie, lost her battle with an addiction. Far too many parents have have had their lives shattered as a result of this insidious blight in our nation. Listen as Kellie shares her story, with refreshing authenticity and transparency, about a journey that began wi...
April 7, 2011 was the day Heather and her husband Mac had been anticipating with such excitement for 9 months. It was the day their precious, beautiful son Bowen was born. However, within a few short minutes he was whisked away by medical staff because something was very wrong. A day that was supposed to be filled with celebration, suddenly took a tragic turn as Heather and Mac began learning that Bowen was born with Polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a condition incompatible with life. Join us...
Every 39 minutes of every day, someone in the U.S. dies senselessly at the hands of an intoxicated driver! On January 20, 2015, Yolanda Martinez and her family experienced their worst nightmare when their 14 year old son, David, was killed when their family van was hit by a speeding drunk driver. Although badly injured, their daughter and a niece survived. Listen as "Yolie" and I talk about the trauma of losing her only son that evening, how she and her husband began trying to process the unt...
The unthinkable happened on January 17, 2023. David Szweda and his family’s lives would never again be the same, as they learned their 24 year old dearly loved son, Hudson had taken his own life. Such pain and loss leave parents utterly broken, wondering if they’ll survive it … and if they even want to.A father’s heart is to protect and care for his spouse and children; the death of a child not only leaves him broken, but often dealing with a sense of guilt because he failed to protect, and a...
After nine long months of waiting for the much anticipated arrival of their first child, a daughter,Ashlie, Erin Maroon and her husband Anthony were crushed and heartbroken as her doctor delivered Ashlie and discovered she was stillborn at full term. Without warning, their long awaited joy and dreams abruptly vanished. How do young parents even begin trying to process something so unspeakable with the unbearable pain and unanswered questions? Grief isn’t supposed to accompany the birth of a c...
"GOD rescued me when Austin went to Heaven by allowing me to understand that Heaven is a real place, more wonderful than we can imagine." Kim Erickson, noted speaker, and author of "Surviving Sorrow: A Mother's Guide to Living with Loss." Losing her beautiful 3 year old son, Austin, to a strep throat infection in April 2008, Kim's life was shattered and put on a trajectory she could never have imagined. Join us as Kim and I talk about her grief journey, how she and her husband Dev...
A continuation of Greg and Cathy Buffkin's story of losing our beautiful 26 year old son Ryan to suicide in October 2015. Ours is a journey from the brokenness of unspeakable loss and pain to experiencing GOD's goodness as He began making something beautiful from all those broken pieces and restoring meaning, purpose and hope to our lives. Please click here to let us know your thoughts about this episode. If you find our episodes meaningful and helpful, we invite you to follow us on your...
In this 2 part interview, our friend Danielle Zapchenck , host of The Parable Podcast, guest-hosts for me as we dive into the journey my wife Cathy and I have been living since October 25, 2015 when our beautiful 26 year old son Ryan took his own life. While our story is one of deep tragedy and brokenness, it's more than that. It's one where GOD enters into our pain and suffering and demonstrates His love, kindness, compassion and grace in ways that we could never have imagined. You will lear...
What do we do when our deepest fear suddenly becomes our new reality? How do we even begin to process and navigate the pain and grief we never could have imagined? This is where Teresa Davis found herself on November 28, 2018 when she learned that her 32 year old son, Andrew had died when the plane he was piloting crashed in a very remote area, leaving behind a young wife and two children. Desperately wanting answers to so many questions, Teresa experienced a crisis of faith for the first tim...
In this episode, well known author and speaker Vaneetha Risner and I talk about her long journey of loss and suffering beginning with childhood polio, several miscarriages, the death of her infant son Paul, post-polio syndrome, betrayal and abandonment by her first husband, and caring for young daughters alone while battling illness. We talk about how GOD lovingly met her in the fire of suffering, using it to radically transform her, and then "watched Him turn her suffering into a conduit of ...
Every year, approximately 11,000 people are killed by drunk drivers, an astounding number. Jenny Leavitt's 17 year old son, Jacob, was one of them in August, 2015. Miraculously, her 29 year old son, Caleb, survived, but was left with catastrophic injuries requiring a long period of healing and recovery. How do parents survive and navigate something so traumatic and senseless? Jenny, already a stage 4 cancer survivor, candidly shares her journey from brokenness, pain, and anger towards GOD, to...
As the day began to unfold on June 28, 2023, life as they knew it would never again be the same for Tobe and Amy as they learned their precious, beautiful 28 year old daughter Abbie had taken her own life after a long battle with depression and PTSD. Tobe and Amy had witnessed the pain and suffering of others as they grieved their loved ones in his role as a church pastor, but nothing could have prepared them for this. The death of a child leaves parents feeling shattered and empty; suicide a...
In our previous episode, Michael’s daughter, Jennifer Bullock-Moore, shared the story of the tragic loss of her beautiful son Miles to stillbirth in September 2021. Grandparents, like surviving siblings, are often overlooked following the death of a child, but their grief is just as real. In this episode, Michael describes the heartbreaking pain of losing his grandson and the intense weight of trying to navigate his own grief journey, while also grieving for his precious daughter and the pain...
2022 statistics from the National Institutes of Health mirror findings of an investigation by ProPublica into the U.S. stillbirth crisis in which more than 20,000 pregnancies every year are lost at 20 weeks or more with the baby being born dead.As the news anchor for the local NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, Jenn’s pregnancy was celebrated and followed in a very public manner. But on October 11, 2021 tragedy struck when her beautiful son, Miles Owen, was stillborn at 33 weeks with little war...
In this episode, noted author, speaker and podcaster, Aubrey Sampson, talks with me about her personal grief journey and a crisis of faith following the sudden, tragic death of her cousin Cameron in a snow hiking accident. Describing Cameron as being like a brother, his untimely death resulted in a season of very deep grief and depression. As if that weren’t enough, after waking up one morning suddenly unable to walk, Aubrey was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease … all within a matter of mo...
How is a parent supposed to accept and begin processing the sudden, unexplainable death of their child? Healthy 20 years don’t just die suddenly without warning or symptoms of some sort. Sadly, a phone call brought this devastating news to Tim Challies and his family on November 3, 2020. His precious son Nick, engaged to be married, and working towards a seminary degree, passed away suddenly while participating in a school activity. In this episode, Tim, a noted author, speaker, and blogger t...
What do we do when the news we receive changes everything and we suddenly find ourselves in the middle of a crisis without warning? It leaves us paralyzed with fear and uncertainty so deep we don’t even know if we can pray, or how we can pray. If that’s where you find yourself as you’re reading this, please listen to this conversation.In this episode, authors, Jessika Sanders and Eric Schumacher, talk with me about how GOD used the crises and loss they faced in their own lives, to inspire the...
For Terry Sternad, the cold, icy December day on a horse ranch in Colorado, was to be one of watching his daughter take a riding lesson while his 5 year old son T.J. enjoyed exploring around the stables where he had played on previous trips. What happened over the next few hours would forever profoundly alter Terry’s and his family’s lives.In this episode, Terry and I talk about the heart wrenching loss of his precious son that day, how GOD lovingly revealed Himself in the pain, and put him o...
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