The Grief Pod

Writer, Producer and Composer, Karl Broderick brings joy to thousands of people every year with The Stadium Panto, alongside his husband and partner of over 33 years, Alan. However, behind the smiles, Karl has struggled with depression, losing both of his parents, and granny and the grief of losing his childhood friend to suicide.

In this episode of The Grief Pod, Karl talks openly about his mental health, his extraordinarily close relationship with his Granny, how his best friends suicide impacted how he views life, his Mums views on his engagement, and the support he continues to feel from his marriage.

Joe Supple, also known by his alter ego Miss Candy, lost his brother Robbie tragically by drowning. A fisherman, Robbie had just started a new life in Castletownbere aged 29. Joe then lost both his Mum and Dad in the same 5 years.

In this episode of The Grief Pod, Joe talks about how he’s kept going after such huge loss in such a short space of time, his brother who ‘everybody loved’ and the small but significant ways he keeps his parents and Robbie close.

Michelle Cullen lost her husband John in 2015, when he was just 52, following a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Her brother, David died aged 10, two days before her ninth birthday.

In this episode of The Grief Pod, Michelle talks about sibling loss, and how our attitudes to grief have changed over the years, how Johns death prompted a 360 career change and how 11 years on she’s navigated her grief

The Cornucopia Story, A Tale of Love and Loss, Hope and Healing, is written by Deirdre O’Mara McCafferty, who founded the Dublin institution with her late husband Neil, 40 years ago.

After three month battle, Neil lost his life to pancreatic cancer, in 1993, aged just 40. In this episode of The Grief Pod, Deirdre talks about her and Neil’s incredible love story against a difficult backdrop, her letter to her two young daughters after Neil died, which was the foundation of the book, running the business while navigating her grief, and her ‘happy ever after’ with her new husband Richard.

Actress Leigh Arnold, lost her baby son Flynn when he was less than a month old. On this episode of The Grief Pod, Leigh talks about how she coped with this unimaginable tragedy, while trying to stay present for her toddler son, who shares the same birthday as Flynn, how she struggled with the absence of her baby while life continued around her, and her heartbreak at the death of her brother, Nicky a few years later.