186: Travis had a son with asthma

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Scott Johnson & Glassbox Media

True Crime, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2024

⏱️ 107 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There’s a phrase that’s very common in certain situations. “Sorry for your loss” We hear it at funerals, we see it in sympathy cards, we might even read it in an email or a text message. It’s kind of just the standard line that people say to those who are grieving after a close friend or a loved one passes away. It doesn’t really take away any of the pain, but it let’s them know that they’re supported and loved. But when it’s a parent mourning the loss of a child, saying “sorry for your loss” seems terribly inadequate. The pain and the heartache is just too big. It’s overwhelming. Suffocating. That commonly used phrase just falls way short, when the pain of the parent is so massive. That’s how Travis felt when his teenage son, Brandon, passed away after having an asthma attack. We’ve had multiple episodes with a parent talking about the loss of a child, but Travis was the first one. This is a Flashback episode. And in the update conversation after the story, Travis told me that now they aren’t completely convinced that it was asthma that took Brandon. Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/186 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: To get your new 3-month premium wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com/WHAT Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! To listen to THE 82% series, follow THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts! Go to cookunity.com/What or enter code What before checkout for 50% off your first week. Go to Seed.com/what and use code 25WHAT to get 25% off your first month. Go to storyworth.com/what to save $10 on your first purchase! For a limited time, our listeners will get an exclusive 15% off their first OneSkin purchase using the code WWTL when you checkout at oneskin.co. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to RocketMoney.com/whatwas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's a phrase that's very common in certain situations.
0:05.0	Sorry for your loss.
0:09.0	We hear it at funerals.
0:11.0	We see it in sympathy cards. We might even read it in an email or a text message.
0:16.7	It's kind of just the standard line that people say to those who are grieving after a close
0:22.4	friend or a loved one passes away.
0:25.0	It doesn't really take away any of the pain, but it lets them know that they're supported and loved.
0:38.0	But when it's a parent mourning the loss of a child, saying sorry for your loss seems terribly inadequate. The pain and heartache is just too big, it's
0:48.2	overwhelming, suffocating. That commonly used phrase just falls way short when the pain of the parent is so massive.
1:00.0	That's how Travis felt when his teenage son, Brandon, passed away after having an asthma attack.
1:11.0	We've had multiple episodes with a parent talking about the loss of a child, but Travis was the first one.
1:18.0	This is a flashback episode, and in the update conversation after the story, Travis told me that now they aren't completely
1:27.2	convinced that it was asthma that took Brandon.
1:39.0	Real people in unreal situations.
1:45.0	There is a girl hanging by her broken leg from the telephone wire. And I called 911 and I said, I found a baby.
1:49.0	I turned around. I see a gun pointed at me close enough I could touch it.
1:53.6	She would hold our heads on the water all the time.
1:55.8	He levels the gun, pulls the trigger, and I go down.
1:59.8	Her eyes were full of tears, but She didn't want to leave us.
2:03.8	My hair catches on fire.
2:05.9	I swear to God, this image is burning my head for the rest of my life.
2:11.2	I'm Scott Johnson, and this is what was that like.
	...

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