Something Shifted with Sean Loots

Josh was 12 years old when the phone rang on a quiet Sunday morning. He was home alone, mid-game of WWE SmackDown, when a voice on the other end broke the news.

In this episode, Josh talks honestly about delayed grief, the way children absorb loss without the language to process it, and how the stories we tell - through music, through art, through conversation - can become the very thing that saves us.

He also reflects on identity: growing up the happy one, finding his voice as a storyteller, and learning to answer the three questions his drama lecturer once posed: who am I, why am I here, and is that okay?

This is a conversation about grief that arrives late, creativity as survival, and the slow, ongoing process of becoming who you were always meant to be.

LINKS:

Listen to Josh's song "Life as a Fleeting Bird" on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/0EkW0sS6uYlfXB7InWl40o?si=40c3280ab1ed497c Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

Josh was 12 years old when the phone rang on a quiet Sunday morning. He was home alone, mid-game of WWE SmackDown, when a voice on the other end broke the news.

In this episode, Josh talks honestly about delayed grief, the way children absorb loss without the language to process it, and how the stories we tell - through music, through art, through conversation - can become the very thing that saves us.

He also reflects on identity: growing up the happy one, finding his voice as a storyteller, and learning to answer the three questions his drama lecturer once posed: who am I, why am I here, and is that okay?

This is a conversation about grief that arrives late, creativity as survival, and the slow, ongoing process of becoming who you were always meant to be.

LINKS:

Listen to Josh's song "Life as a Fleeting Bird" on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/0EkW0sS6uYlfXB7InWl40o?si=40c3280ab1ed497c Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

Josh was 12 years old when the phone rang on a quiet Sunday morning. He was home alone, mid-game of WWE SmackDown, when a voice on the other end broke the news.

In this episode, Josh talks honestly about delayed grief, the way children absorb loss without the language to process it, and how the stories we tell - through music, through art, through conversation - can become the very thing that saves us.

He also reflects on identity: growing up the happy one, finding his voice as a storyteller, and learning to answer the three questions his drama lecturer once posed: who am I, why am I here, and is that okay?

This is a conversation about grief that arrives late, creativity as survival, and the slow, ongoing process of becoming who you were always meant to be.

LINKS:

Listen to Josh's song "Life as a Fleeting Bird" on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/0EkW0sS6uYlfXB7InWl40o?si=40c3280ab1ed497c Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

Josh was 12 years old when the phone rang on a quiet Sunday morning. He was home alone, mid-game of WWE SmackDown, when a voice on the other end broke the news.

In this episode, Josh talks honestly about delayed grief, the way children absorb loss without the language to process it, and how the stories we tell - through music, through art, through conversation - can become the very thing that saves us.

He also reflects on identity: growing up the happy one, finding his voice as a storyteller, and learning to answer the three questions his drama lecturer once posed: who am I, why am I here, and is that okay?

This is a conversation about grief that arrives late, creativity as survival, and the slow, ongoing process of becoming who you were always meant to be.

LINKS:

Listen to Josh's song "Life as a Fleeting Bird" on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/0EkW0sS6uYlfXB7InWl40o?si=40c3280ab1ed497c Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

What does it feel like to breathe freely for the first time at 40 years old?

Tanya Bothma has struggled with every breath since birth. After a meconium aspiration as a newborn and repeated severe viral infections during childhood, she was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a progressive narrowing of the airways that no medication could reverse.

By 2017, Tanya's lung capacity had fallen to just 14%, less than one litre of air. That year, she became the first patient to receive a bilateral double lung transplant in a state hospital on the African continent. After the operation, her capacity reached 85%. For the first time, she could shout from the sidelines at her daughter's sports matches, support her husband, and live life without counting every breath.

Then, in December 2023, six years after her transplant, Tanya was diagnosed with chronic rejection.

In this episode, Tanya shares what it was like growing up with a severe chronic lung condition, the impossible decision to go ahead with a groundbreaking operation carrying a 50/50 survival rate, the grief of losing her brother in the same year as her transplant, and the joy of watching her daughter grow up on lungs she never thought she'd have.

She also speaks with extraordinary openness about organ donation; what it means to receive a stranger's gift, what it meant to watch her own brother's tissue help 26 people, and why she believes more people need to understand what organ donation really involves.

This episode was originally recorded in 2024 while Tanya was on the waiting list for her second double lung transplant. In December 2025, Tanya received that transplant.

Sadly, Tanya passed away shortly after. Her story lives on as a testament to courage, love, and the life-changing power of organ donation.

This episode was first published in November 2024.

https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/spear-reit-a-new-breath

https://odf.org.za/

https://save7.org/

https://podcasthon.org/ Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify