Sickboy

Chris Muise might sound like a cool country rock star. But no, he's a reporter living with a hella rare disease. This episode is chalk full of big words. Vasculitis! Aosinophils! Wrestlemania! Chris lives with a variation of a disease that only effects 1 in 6,000,000. Take a moment and read that again. Childhood Churg Straus Syndrome comes in stages and each one is as awful as the next. Buckle up for a wild story heartwarming story of a wandering billionaire making dreams come true near the end of the episode!

Meet Lainie! Three years ago she found a small bald spot on her head. Since that date, she has lost every single hair on her head cyclically at least twice! This week we take a deep dive into the world of Alopecia! Lainie gives us the rundown on life as a balding woman and the wild treatments in order to deal with her situation. Rogaine anyone? Who is the newfie Jew? The MADMAX look is so in right now. Also is it a wig? Or is that her hair? Brian makes a shocking discovery.

What consists of a good death? According to Caitlin Doughty, It is staring down your death fears—whether it be your own death, the death of those you love, the pain of dying, the afterlife (or lack thereof), grief, corpses, bodily decomposition, or all of the above. Accepting that death itself is natural, but the death anxiety of modern culture is not. Caitlin is a mortician, activist, and funeral industry rabble-rouser. We dive deep into the different ways in which the world deals with death. From raking hot bones out of an oven to vultures ceremoniously eating human remains to wrapping bodies in a shroud and burying it three feet under the earth, there are many options for us to plan our death. This episode is not to be missed!

This week we come to you from Jeremie's ultra slick looking private hospital room! Everyone's favourite Sickboy host (obviously) was rushed to the ER after doing his best ""death in a Quinten Tarantino film"" impression by spewing movie FX amounts of blood out of his mouth with every cough. Don't worry, he's okay! Plus it gave us an opportunity to sit down and talk about the latest in weird and wild health news! From cures to HIV, to dudes eating their own body parts, to horrifyingly disgusting hospital food and beyond!

There is much to be done about hate extremism in the world today. But what can we do about Love Extremism? Ethan Lipsitz is on a mission to spread more love. Especially after his experience with brain cancer. What started as a terrifying seizure in his bed one night quickly turned into a scenario where he and his healthcare team needed to race against the clock to remove as much of a tumour as they could. Buckle up for a wild story and some extreme love!

The sun is always shining in beautiful LA, but it seems to shine even brighter at Justin Baldoni’s house. This week we sit down with easily one of the most genuine and charming humans we’ve ever met. Justin is an American actor, director and filmmaker. His latest film ‘Five Feet Apart’ is about to put Cystic Fibrosis on the motha f***in’ MAP! This beautiful and endearing film tells the story of Seventeen-year-old Stella who spends most of her time in the hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control -- all of which get put to the test when she meets Will, an impossibly charming teen who has the same illness. This week we talk about the process of creating a film that will simultaneously speak to the masses and the cystic fibrosis community, The power of vulnerability, Being the most true and authentic version of yourself, and more. Huge shout out to our supporters on Patreon for this conversation wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for you.

When Derric came out to his Dad, his father disapprovingly told him that he was going to get AIDS. Derric grew up in the Bible Belt, West Virginia, where in a lot of places being gay is still unaccepted. So a couple years later, when Derric tested positive for HIV, he was devastated. Opening up about his diagnosis was extremely challenging and within a short amount of time he moved west to be in a more accepting and supportive community. Derric's story is incredibly important because living with HIV and being gay is still wracked with stigma, which makes it hard for Derric to talk about it. By sharing his story he hopes that people living with similar challenges feel less alone and we know that this will resonate deeply with a lot of our listeners. Thank you, Derric for being vulnerable and open with us, you're a beautiful human being!

This week we take a deep dive into the past and present of nurse practitioner Verena Rizg. A conversation that taps into the nuances and complexities of faith vs culture when approaching grief. The boys finally get schooled on the difference between LPN, RN and Nurse practitioner (turns out LPN does not stand for Lower Paid Nurse, sorry dad) and a very much needed dive into how race effects both giving and receiving care.

This week we sit down with Estelle Thomson. Good friend and Nova Scotia yoga instructor and artist. We spend a solid 10 minutes beating around the bush and awkwardly avoiding the topic at hand... The death of Tommy, Estelle's two year old son. It's a perfect example of how so many of us are effected by the inability to know how to broach the tough subject of death. Estelle is a power house of a woman who has so much to teach the world about life, loss, and how to face the harsh realities of death. Thank you Estelle. Thank you Tommy.

Christa Angell is not related to Criss Angel but she knows a pretty gnarly magic trick. Like being born with her bladder on the outside of her body! AKA Bladder Exstrophy. We dive into full bladder reconstruction using sections of large intestine, self catheterizing, life long pelvic issues, acupuncture and Ayurvedic practices. But most importantly a full blown ASMR session near the end.