The Adapted Life, Finding Next
I’m Julie Hasselberger. For 26 years, I was the full-time caregiver for my beloved son Daniel, whose life was marked by profound disability and extraordinary beauty. This podcast began as a way to support other parents navigating the complex, often isolating world of special needs caregiving. But life changed — heartbreakingly and irrevocably — when my son passed away.
Now, The Adapted Life, Finding Next is a space for truth-telling, tenderness, and transformation. It’s about what comes after the role that once defined you is gone. It’s about grief, relational trauma, resilience, and the raw, ongoing search for next — for purpose, healing, and connection.
If you’re facing a season of reckoning, rebuilding, or rediscovery, I invite you to walk with me. You are not alone. This is the adapted life… and together, we’ll find what comes next.
The Adapted Life, Finding Next
Inside his brain. What the MRI reveals and coping with it.
In this episode, I wanted to talk about my son's recent MRI, and what it really means to the entire big picture. And I guess, what it doesn't.
Thank you for being here, at the adapted life podcast. As with with my life, I am letting my intuitive thoughts and heart centered focus guide me as I unroll what "adapting" means to me. My hope is that someone out there will resonate with what it is like to be spending your life, keeping another precious human alive and cared for. In my case, it is my 25 year old son, who has a rare brain deformity.
"It was a virus, that started this whole ordeal. What the new neurology guy calls “the original injury”. A virus called Cytomegalovirus. Or CMV. If you have not heard of CMV, you should have. Especially if you have been pregnant at any point, or know someone who is. The CMV virus is a common virus, spread by direct contact with infectious body fluids, such as saliva, urine, tears, etc. CMV is typically unnoticed in healthy people, but it can life-threatening for the immunocompromised, and also newborn infants. If a pregnant mother, like I was, has no immunities to CMV and is infected, the unborn child also becomes infected. This is the tragedy. For me, it was somewhere around the end of my first trimester, like week 11-13. Daniels brain formation was attacked by the virus. Or, the “Original injury”.
"Every single day, its gratitude. I’m so thankful for the mri. For the medical teams. For the Medtronic rep who helped me. For coffee. For giggles. For a wheelchair repair. For a Sunshine filled morning. For friends. For family. For my own health. For music. For my treasures. For the ability to just let the problems not contain me. To know that I need to stop thinking so much, so that I can hear things. "
With all my love and gratitude, I wish you light and blessings on your own difficult journey.
Remember to have fun. See you next episode!
Watch us on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQr7Ot0J0o6_gRnG_fJvzDg
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/
Website
https://www.theadaptedlife.com/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DanielsSpecialArt?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQr7Ot0J0o6_gRnG_fJvzDg
