406: What if a terminal diagnosis set you free?
This Is Actually Happening
Audible
4.6 • 10.4K Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2026
⏱️ 67 minutes
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Summary
After a childhood shaped by violence and addiction leads him into years of self-destruction, a man begins to transform himself in prison, only to learn he has 90 days to live.
Today’s episode featured Michael Mason. If you’d like to reach out to Michael, you can email him at mikemason2676@gmail.com. You can find him on X/Twitter @Maurice74.
Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits
Content/Trigger Warnings: child abuse, domestic violence, sibling violence, alcoholism, addiction, violent crime, stabbing, gun violence, incarceration, suicidal ideation, terminal illness, cancer, grief, and the death of a sibling, explicit language
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of This Is Actually Happening, |
| 0:04.2 | ad free right now. |
| 0:06.0 | Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. |
| 0:09.0 | This Is Actually Happening features real experiences that often include traumatic events. |
| 0:13.5 | Please consult the show notes for specific content warnings on each episode, |
| 0:17.0 | and for more information about support services. |
| 0:23.6 | Every adversity carries with it a futuristic advantage of equal or more proportion. |
| 0:31.6 | And I have found that to be so true in my life. |
| 0:34.6 | All the worst things that ever happened to me. All of those things helped me. |
| 0:38.8 | I didn't know that at the time. But now I know how to navigate through all kinds of weather. |
| 0:50.9 | From Audible Originals, I'm Whitmissildine. |
| 0:57.4 | You're listening to This Is Actually Happening. |
| 1:03.3 | Episode 406. |
| 1:38.7 | What if a terminal diagnosis set you free. My mother was the oldest of 10, and my grandmother, her mother was a product of pharmacy drugs. |
| 1:40.9 | They overprescribed her. |
| 1:42.7 | My grandmother, she was out of her mind. So my mother, you know, |
| 1:46.7 | at 10 years old, she was taking care of all these other children, making their lunches. And there |
| 1:51.3 | was alcoholism in that side of my family. My great-grandparents on her side came from Sweden, |
| 1:56.8 | and they're all like old Viking alcoholics. My mother was an alcoholic with a lot of anxiety. |
| 2:04.1 | And my dad, as far as I can tell, him and this guy hitchhiked to California. |
| 2:09.2 | And then he went to the Vietnam War, and he was back on a leave, and he met my mother. |
| 2:14.2 | And she was 16, he was 19. |
... |
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