37: Hope Loves Company: A Powerful Journey of Grief, Healing, and Helping Families Facing ALS

Today we are joined by a very special guest, Jodi O’Donnell-Ames, as we learn about her journey and the amazing work she is doing to make a difference in the world and the lives of others. Jodi is a speaker, coach, author, and founder of Hope Loves Company - a non-profit organization with the mission of supporting children and young adults who love someone with ALS.

Jodi’s story of caring for her husband as he lived with, and eventually passed away from, ALS is a powerful one. In this episode, she helps us open up a dialogue on ALS, the experiences she had in caring for her husband, her own process of grief and healing, and the ways she now helps others who are dealing with difficult loss.

We also explore some of the challenges that people who have limited mobility face daily, and how we can all be more aware and advocate for increased accessibility for all. It’s a big issue that most of us may not think about if it doesn’t impact us directly, but we can all be part of the solution in minimizing and eliminating these barriers.

We truly appreciate Jodi for stepping into the circle and trusting us by sharing her story on the podcast. She is a beautiful human being on a powerful mission. We encourage you to check out Jodi’s resources to learn more and to then take action to help (you can donate to Hope Loves Company by clicking here, or at the link in the show notes.) The beautiful thing about Respect Circles is we always learn something and can take action to make a difference.

You can also invite Jodi to speak to your group or organization through her website.

As always, we love to hear your feedback. If you have a question or topic that you’d like us to discuss in a future episode, please go to https://www.respectcircles.com/voicemail/ to leave us a message.

You can also reach us by email, respectcircles@gmail.com, on social media at https://www.facebook.com/respectcircles and https://www.instagram.com/respectcircles/, or by visiting our website at www.respectcircles.com too. We look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks so much for listening. We’d love to have you subscribe to the podcast, leave us a rating and review, and share with your friends!

In this episode you’ll hear:

What ALS is and how Jodi came to learn about it in a very personal way [5:49]
The first steps Jodi and her husband took after receiving the devastating diagnosis and the ways in which they got busy advocating [9:26]
Where she got the tremendous will to fight and how she knew that she was born for the role of caregiving and helping others [13:29]
What she did to use grief to propel her forward on her mission, and how a certain event shifted her entire perspective on her family’s situation [18:26]
Jodi’s philosophy on caregiving and showing up to help someone in needed, even when you may not know the right way to do it [21:51]
How she used love and memories to move forward and create Hope Loves Company [28:45]
What we need to be aware of about accessibility issues and becoming an advocate for change in this area [32:36]
The actions steps we can take to become a better ally for these causes today [39:35]