Content note: This episode contains discussion of cancer, grief, and the loss of a parent.
🧠 How do you keep moving when life rips away one of the people you love most?
In this first episode of our Being Human Series, Joel and Luke sit down with Mitch Johnstone as he opens up about losing his dad, Michael Johnstone, to pancreatic cancer. With raw honesty, Mitch shares what it was like to walk through the shock of diagnosis, the heartbreak of decline, and the grief that followed his dad’s passing.
This isn’t just a conversation about loss — it’s about what happens to your identity, relationships, and daily life when the person you looked up to most is suddenly gone. Mitch talks about the practical chaos of hospital visits, the emotional whiplash of hope and despair, and the quiet, long-lasting ache that comes after the funeral ends and life is supposed to “go back to normal.”
Mitch is also a father, teacher, and cricket coach — roles he tries to compartmentalise as best he can while often running on fumes. He speaks candidly about the tension of showing up for his kids, his students, and his players while privately carrying grief and exhaustion, and how the weight of those roles can be both grounding and overwhelming.
🎙 This episode is for you if you’re into:
• Honest, unfiltered conversations about grief and what it really feels like
• The experience of losing a parent to cancer and the ripple effect on family
• The loneliness that comes when support fades after the funeral
• What it looks like to juggle parenthood, teaching, and coaching while grieving
• Learning to carry your loved one’s legacy while finding your own way forward
• Vulnerability, resilience, and the reminder that it’s okay to not be okay
💬 Got thoughts or want to share your own story?
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New episodes drop every Tuesday — let’s normalise the conversation, one real chat at a time.
Credits:
The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/