In this episode we speak to Dr Leanne Griffiths, the Dean of Sport, Allied Health and Performance Science at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, and founder of Sophie’s Stars, a charity dedicated to supporting family and loved ones of people diagnosed with cancer.
Leanne has a very personal story to share with us which is bound up together in her role as the founder of Sophie’s Stars and her work at the University, as it prepares to launch its new living well service.
At the Centre for the Art of Dying Well we strongly believe in living well throughout our lives in order to prepare to die well, so we are particularly interested in this new initiative.
Leanne started at St Mary's as a Senior Lecturer in Sport Rehabilitation in 2011. She qualified as a Physiotherapist in 2008, completing a PhD in 2016. Her PhD investigated the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on muscle adaptation in stroke patients. Meanwhile in her personal life Leanne was coping with the sudden illness and subsequent death of her sister Sophie, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer aged 24, dying just months later in 2017.
Leanne says: “I’ve never really known where to tell my story, or where I could share my feelings and have my voice heard, because I have not been through cancer. That is why I set up Sophie’s Stars.”
Where there's a Will there's a way | Episode 40
Back to Life | Second chances and spiritual awakening | Episode 39
How we remember the dead | A reflective tour of the beautiful London Oratory Church | Episode 38
Still birth and Abigail's Footsteps | Baby Loss Awareness Week | Episode 37
Grieving The Loss of a Child | Baby Loss Awareness Week | Episode 36
Listen to me, I'm dying! | Episode 35
Eternity? What happens after we die | Episode 34
The Art of Dying Well - What Have We Learned? | Episode 32
The Philosophy of Life and Death | Episode 31
Why end of life companionship matters | Episode 30
Living well, ageing well and dying well | Episode 29
The Art of Listening Well | Episode 28
Men and Grief | Episode 27
Grief in the Classroom | Episode 26
Diagnosing Dying | Episode 25
The Internet and End of Life | Episode 24
End of Life Accompaniment and Lone Deaths | Episode 23
Reporting on death and dying during the pandemic | Episode 22
Bereavement and Remembrance in November | Episode 21
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