About this episode

Sarah Spahic shares her journey of loss and resilience through her daughter Josie's story of survival against the odds.

Type of loss: Life limiting diagnosis, Infant loss More about Sarah's story: Josie’s story is one of unimaginable strength, resilience, and love. From a prenatal diagnosis of a congenital heart defect and Down syndrome, to navigating a pregnancy with little support, Sarah opens up about the challenges she faced long before Josie entered the world. Born three months early at just 1 lb 14 oz, doctors warned she likely wouldn’t survive—but Josie had other plans. Over the course of six months, Josie defied the odds time and time again. Sarah shares of the three months they spent in a step-down unit, the hope surrounding Josie’s heart procedure, and the devastating complications that followed—including blood clots, strokes, infections, and ultimately cardiac arrest. Even after being placed on ECMO and fighting her way off, Josie’s body had endured more than most ever will. She passed peacefully in her mother’s arms, leaving behind a legacy far greater than her time on earth. Sarah honors Josie through two nonprofits: The Threefold Cord Project, which provides comfort boxes to NICU and pediatric cardiac ICU families, and Josie’s Wind Chimes of Hope, which gifts wind chimes to loss…

People in this episode

Host: Emma's Footprints

Guest: Sarah Spahic

Topics covered

• infant loss
• congenital heart defect
• Down syndrome
• NICU experience
• non-profit support
• grief and resilience

Keywords

• infant loss
• congenital heart defect
• Down syndrome
• NICU
• grief
• non-profit
• resilience
• hope

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Threefold Cord Project, Josie’s Wind Chimes of Hope

More episodes of Confessions of a Grieving Mother

• 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 · May 7, 2026 · 17 min
• 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝘃𝗶: 𝙈𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙈𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙚𝙨 · April 23, 2026 · 1h 2m
• 𝗣𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗹𝗲𝗿: 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙂𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙛 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙊𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙛-𝙂𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙩𝙝 · April 16, 2026 · 32 min
• 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘆 · April 9, 2026 · 11 min
• 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲: 𝙁𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 · April 2, 2026 · 21 min
• 𝗧𝗮𝗯𝗯𝘆 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗼𝗻: 𝙈𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙀𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙨 𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙬 & 𝙀𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙚 · March 26, 2026 · 1h 15m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Confessions of a Grieving Mother podcast page.