In this episode, Sam sits down with her close friend, award-winning songwriter and bestselling author Tara MacLean to explore the importance of parents telling their own story in the context of childhood cancer.
This conversation moves beyond the clinical version of events—the timelines, the treatments, the updates—and into something deeper: the lived experience of being a parent inside it. What it felt like. What it changed. What it took to endure it.
Together, Sam and Tara talk about storytelling as a fundamental human instinct—something we’ve always used to make sense of the unimaginable and to find connection with others who have lived through something similar. They explore how, when parents begin to put words to their experience, it not only helps them process what has happened, but also creates a bridge for the families coming behind them.
Using the framework of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey as a loose guide, they walk through the arc many parents recognize: the moment of diagnosis as the call, the depth and disorientation of treatment, and the quiet return—when parents begin to find language for what they’ve lived and share it with others.
Tara brings a rare ability to help articulate the most complex emotional experiences, offering insight into how to approach telling your story in a way that feels honest, grounded, and true. This episode is an invitation for parents to begin exploring their own narrative—not as a retelling of events, but as a way to understand, connect, and support others.
At its core, this conversation is about the power of story to create meaning, reduce isolation, and offer something steady to those just beginning their own experience.
You can learn more about Tara here https://www.taramacleanmusic.com/
And purchase her best selling memoir Song of the Sparrow here https://www.amazon.ca/Song-Sparrow-Memoir-Tara-MacLean/dp/1443465127
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