36 Shannon Traphagen | Vulnerability and Loneliness as a Widow

How To Deal With Grief and Trauma

HOW TO DEAL WITH GRIEF AND TRAUMA is completely self, funded, produced, and edited by me, Nathalie Himmelrich.
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Today on the podcast I am speaking with Shannon Traphagen about the loss of the love of her life and best friend from brain cancer. She so beautifully describes feeling rudderless and lost after having spent all her adult life with her husband. Before her husband’s diagnosis, they were on the road to adoption but due to his illness, they also lost that option. Shannon slept downstairs on the couch for a year to avoid the loneliness of the bedroom she had shared with her husband and the baby’s room across the hallway. She slowly worked her way back into embracing her life and now helps others through her podcast. Shannon speaks about vulnerability and loneliness, a topic she feels is not discussed enough in grief.

About this week’s guest

Shannon Traphagen, MSW, is a published author, motivational grief & loss speaker, patient advocate, and host of The Game On Glio Podcast. A show centered around the stories of brain cancer patients, caregivers, doctors, researchers, therapists, and grief and loss journeys. With a background in magazine publishing, social work, and modern media, Shannon is also walking through her own grief journey after losing her 45-year-old husband to Glioblastoma two years ago. She now helps others through her podcast and her own experiences, bridging the gap in communication between patients/families, widows, and the medical community. She is also the founder of Traphagen's Trail Ride 4 Brain Cancer, a cycling fundraiser which has raised over $30,000 to date for brain cancer clinical trials.

Shannon’s links:

• Website
• IG @gameongliopodcast
• LinkTree

Topics discussed in this episode

• Miscarriages
• The diagnosis of brain cancer of her husband led to the loss of adoption in the process
• The death of her husband from glioblastoma
• How to come to ‘I’m ok with this (loss)’
• Vulnerability and loneliness
• Secondary losses
• Finding resilience through creating meaning

Resources mentioned in this episode

• Podcast episode with Amber who also lost her husband from brain cancer

Links

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