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This week’s episode is a big one. We’re joined by Heather Plude for a deep dive into mould, mycotoxins, chronic illness, stress, nervous system responses and the absolutely wild rabbit holes people end up travelling when they’re trying to work out why they’re sick.

Heather shares the extraordinary story of her son becoming critically ill as a child, the discovery of toxic mould in their home, and how that experience completely changed the direction of her life. We talk about the practical side of mould testing, why some people seem more affected than others, the difference between mould and mycotoxins, and why “just spray some bleach on it” may not be the brilliant plan we once thought it was.

There’s also plenty of classic Portia moments, including discHussions about shouting on trains, grey Sydney weather, mouldy apartments, silk doonas apparently made from “the bottoms of caterpillars,” and the ongoing reality that if you live on the east coast of Australia right now… honestly… you probably have mould somewhere.

As always, this podcast is about curiosity, conversation and exploring ideas around health, healing and recovery. We’re not pretending to have all the answers — but we are asking a lot of questions. And occasionally laughing while doing it, because otherwise you’d cry into your dehumidifier.

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Heather's A Good Health Advocate

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This episode starts with one of those brutally honest check-ins that probably sums up life with ALS better than anything polished ever could: “Yeah, so when I said I was good… I lied.”

Lisa talks openly about the strange balancing act of feeling hopeful and encouraged by genuine improvements — better coordination, less spasticity, stronger core function and positive signs from physios — while also navigating the absolute exhaustion that comes from simply trying to keep living a normal life. Dog trials, birthdays, friends, noise, conversations, medical appointments… sometimes it all just becomes too much.

A huge part of this episode centres around the emotional and physical toll of ongoing infusion treatments and the reality of being repeatedly used as a training “guinea pig” for port access procedures. There’s frustration, tears, dark humour and a really important conversation about advocating for yourself medically — especially when your body is already carrying more than enough. Portia, as always, manages to balance fierce protectiveness with hilariously inappropriate commentary, including the unforgettable line about nurses with cataracts probably not being ideal for precision needlework.

But this episode isn’t all heavy. Far from it.

There’s talk of skiing dreams with “spaghetti legs,” Paris adventures, Tom Cruise-induced histamine reactions, drag-queen engineering solutions involving hot glue guns, mouldy blinds, woo-woo full moon energy, introverts pretending to be extroverts, and the ongoing reality that humour remains one of the best survival mechanisms available to human beings.

There’s also a deeper thread running underneath the laughs — learning when to stop, when to say no, when to rest, and when to give yourself grace instead of constantly pushing through.

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Thank you for listening to ALS - To the Moon and Back.
If this episode resonated, please share it with someone who might need it.
You can follow, subscribe, and stay connected as we continue exploring life, friendship, ALS, treatments, hope, and all the messy, meaningful bits in between.
Take care of yourselves — and each other — and we’ll see you next episode.

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This episode starts with us talking rubbish about bin chickens, bad politicians, Barbie dolls, drag queens and whether double-dipping chips should actually be illegal in Australia. Completely normal behaviour. Then, somewhere between laughing ourselves stupid and discussing “important Australian words” that apparently need to be voice banked forever, things get a bit deeper.

We talk honestly about something that’s started happening for me recently — ALS beginning to affect my voice. It’s confronting, weird, heartbreaking and strangely practical all at once. We get into voice banking, AI technology, recording memories for my granddaughters, and why apparently I now need to permanently preserve the ability to say “mate, what the f*ck?” for future generations. Because priorities.

There’s also a really raw conversation about illness, grief, friendship, the AIDS epidemic, people leaving too early, and the strange perspective you gain when life suddenly becomes very fragile. But in true us-fashion, even in the middle of the hard stuff, we somehow end up crying with laughter. Because sometimes humour is the only thing holding the whole circus together.

We also talk about the weird reality that living with ALS isn’t just doom and gloom every second of every day. There are moments of incredible beauty, perspective and connection in amongst it all. Plus a bit of hope — research is moving fast, trials are happening, and for the first time in a long time there are genuine reasons to believe things could change for people living with this disease.

It’s messy, emotional, funny, slightly inappropriate and very, very human. Pretty much us in podcast form.

Support the show

Thank you for listening to ALS - To the Moon and Back.
If this episode resonated, please share it with someone who might need it.
You can follow, subscribe, and stay connected as we continue exploring life, friendship, ALS, treatments, hope, and all the messy, meaningful bits in between.
Take care of yourselves — and each other — and we’ll see you next episode.