Uncovering the Cost of Saving a Life

the goop podcast

Gwyneth Paltrow

Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 7.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2021

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“When you have someone in your life who is experiencing illness, especially as a young person, it can be so impossible to bear witness to that,” says author Katherine E. Standefer. “Because then you are confronted with your own lack of control.” Standefer’s debut memoir, Lightning Flowers: My Journey to Uncover the Cost of Saving a Life, is stunning. Today, she joins host Elise Loehnen to tell the story of the rare diagnosis that led her on a mission deep into our fractured medical system. She shares what it was like to sit with vulnerability, what she learned from the avoidant tendencies of many of her doctors, and how she began to make sense of her complicated relationship with the medical advancements that were meant to save her. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Don't hold anything too tightly. Just wish for it, want it, let it come from the
0:10.6	intention of real truth for you, and then let it go. For me our soul is like it's
0:16.8	unbound, it's limitless, but we will use words to limit ourselves. When people
0:23.2	stop believing that somebody's got your back or Superman's coming, we turn to
0:28.9	ourselves and that's where you become empowered. Courageous participation attracts
0:35.3	positive things. I'm Gwyneth Paltrow. This is the Goop podcast, bringing together
0:42.0	thought leaders, culture changers, creatives, founders and CEOs, scientists,
0:47.6	doctors, healers and seekers, here to start conversations, because simply asking
0:53.1	questions and listening has the power to change the way we see the world.
0:56.7	Today is no exception. I'll let Elise fill you in on her extraordinary guest.
1:03.6	All right, over to Elise.
1:07.2	Katherine Standifer is the author of a stunning debut memoir called Lightning Flowers.
1:12.4	My journey to uncover the cost of saving a life. In her early 20s,
1:17.7	Katherine was diagnosed with long Q2 syndrome, a rare disorder of the heart. She writes,
1:23.7	in complete poetry, about the medical trauma she's experienced in the past decade.
1:28.8	We talk about her relationship with the defibrillator and planted in her heart and its repercussions
1:33.6	in her life, her battles for insurance in our broken system, and our collective refusal to look
1:39.5	at the end, whether it's of our own lives or the products we bring into them.
1:44.8	In her book, Katherine voyages to many corners of the globe to understand how the device inside
1:50.4	her was mine from the earth. She is a beautiful thinker and talker who is devoted to understanding
1:55.4	the sacred. I hope you enjoy listening to the conversation as much as I enjoyed having it.
2:01.5	I also wanted to take a moment to let you know that today's episode will be my last one with
	...

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