Jay Morgan Hyrons (Falklands War Widows, Navigating Grief and Catharsis Through Exercise) - Episode 1204
Behind The Shield
James Geering
4.9 • 695 Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2026
⏱️ 118 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jay Morgan Hyrons is an author, bodybuilder, grief counselor and a Falklands War widow. We discuss her turbulent childhood, losing her military husband in combat, her powerful grief story, gym therapy, near death experiences, counseling and so much more.
Jay was born in the War Memorial Hospital in Crickhowell, Wales in 1957 unsurprisingly leading her to a life as a War Widow and Military Family Researcher. Grammar School education in the 1960’s meant many like Jay went undiagnosed with ADHD, in short many of her qualifications were obtained during her forties when she had mastered how to study with a less than forgiving brain.
She has had an unusual career path including counselling the terminally ill for the NHS, dancer, personal trainer, champion bodybuilder, podcaster, author, and public speaker. Described by many as an extraordinary woman, Jay herself feels she has had an extraordinary life journey marked by both triumph and tragedy. Her lifelong commitment to fitness enabled her to beat the odds and survive medical emergencies more than once, in 2015 she astonished doctors by making an unlikely full recovery.
Eventually diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder the prognosis was guarded. At times these life experiences have tested her spiritual beliefs until she began to understand the deeper meaning of the journey. Jay found herself on a true ‘Dark Night of the Soul’. The journey eventually led her to acceptance which after all is the last stage of grief…
Jay published her first book ‘And She Danced’ in 2019, her second book ‘The Falklands Widow’ followed in 2021. In 2023 Jay began a new chapter as a Volunteer Speaker for the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation a role which continues to date. Most recently her volunteering encompasses recording the Chelsea Pensioners on the Oral History Project at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. November 2024 saw the publication of ‘The Falklands Fallen’ with Pen & Sword Military, royalties from which are donated to the Royal Hospital.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Pioneer Shield podcast. As always, my name's James Gearing, and this week it is my |
| 0:04.0 | absolute honor to welcome on the show, author, bodybuilder, and grief counselor, Jay Morgan |
| 0:11.6 | Hyrens. Now, in this conversation, we discuss a host of topics. From her early life in England, |
| 0:18.9 | meeting her soulmate Gary, his deployment to the Falkland Islands, |
| 0:24.3 | becoming a war widow, her powerful grief story, her near-death experiences, catharsis through fitness, |
| 0:33.8 | using her grief journey to help others, writing, and so much more. Now, before we get to this |
| 0:41.0 | incredible conversation, as I say every week, please just take a moment, go to whichever app you |
| 0:46.7 | listen to this on, subscribe to the show, leave feedback and leave a rating. Every single five-star rating truly does elevate this podcast, |
| 0:57.4 | therefore making it easier for others to find. And this is a free library of over 1,200 episodes |
| 1:05.2 | now. So all I ask in return is that you help share these incredible men and women's stories |
| 1:11.8 | so I can get them to every single person on planet Earth who needs to hear them. |
| 1:17.9 | So with that being said, I introduce to you Jay Morgan Hirens. |
| 1:24.5 | Enjoy. |
| 1:46.9 | Thank you. Hyrins. Enjoy. Well, Jay, I want to start by saying two things. |
| 1:50.4 | Firstly, thank you to Stu Henderson for making this connection, |
| 1:51.8 | even though it was a long time ago now. |
| 1:55.6 | We were just struggling to remember who it was, or I was at least, before we hit record. |
| 1:56.8 | So thank you, Stu. |
| 2:02.4 | And secondly, I want to welcome you to the Behind the Shield podcast today thank you for having me on james so where on planet earth are we finding you this afternoon i'm in london |
| 2:09.9 | where i've been for over 30 years now whereabouts in london i used to live in north london |
| 2:16.5 | when i was there. |
| 2:27.7 | I'm in the east. I'm in East London. So I think we'll come to why I ended up here a little bit further down the line. |
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