Welcome to Strangers. I'm Leah Tao. And first of all, this show is not going away.

Today is our last episode as a Radiotopia show, but Strangers is here to stay. We're just going

independent. It's an exciting leap into the future, and I'll tell you more about the plans later on this episode.

But first we'll hear a story about a different kind of leap into a different kind of future,

from a man who just one year ago would have told you that wasn't possible.

Perhaps you remember the very first story we did this year, back in January, with Jared

Buchan and Decker in Utah, whose wife Sherry had died in childbirth.

Jared and Sherry had tried for years to get pregnant and had been through the fertility

gamut.

But when it finally happened, the pregnancy was healthy, and as labor began, there was no

indication that things would go so terribly wrong. They went to the hospital full of dreams

for the future, thinking they would return as a family of three. But what was supposed to be the

most joyful day of their lives also became the most tragic when Sherry suffered a rare

complication called an amniotic embolism

and died suddenly. The doctors were able to save the baby, but not Sherry. And when we met Sherrod

last December, six months after Sherry had died, he was struggling to see a way forward.

I don't know. I feel so alone.

I mean, I'm surrounded by family.

I'm literally like never alone.

But I feel so alone because for 12 years,

my life revolved around Sherry.

Nights are the worst.

...