Empowered by Hope
You want the best possible quality of life for your child regardless of diagnosis or prognosis. Raising a child with medical complexities is often lonely, scary and overwhelming. Join two parents of amazing children with rare medical complexities, Emily K. Whiting and Ashlyn Thompson, to get help and grow with them into empowered advocates for our kids. Here you’ll find a community of support, encouragement, education and resources, equipping you to navigate your child’s medical complexities with hope. To get more personal support, connect with us directly at www.ParentEmpowermentNetwork.org.
Empowered by Hope
Gina Brooklyn on Writing ‘Through Every Storm’ for Parents Like You
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A powerful new anthem is available for parents walking the complex medical journey with their children. Emily Whiting sits down with singer-songwriter Gina Brooklyn to unveil "Through Every Storm," a song created specifically for the Parent Empowerment Network community that captures the heartache, hope, and profound love that defines raising a medically complex child.
The song's journey began over a year ago when Gina, moved by the mission of supporting parents through medical complexity, set out to transform Emily's heartfelt words into music. "Every second, every moment that I get to love you is such a gift," begins the lyrical journey that acknowledges both the privilege and pain of loving a child through medical challenges. What makes this collaboration uniquely powerful is how it balances hopeful realism – neither glossing over struggles nor surrendering to despair.
In a surprising twist of providence, shortly after writing this song for others, Gina found herself battling serious health challenges of her own. Following a severe COVID infection, she received diagnoses of POTS, mast cell activation disease, and hereditary alpha tryptasemia – experiences that brought new depth to lyrics like "If it rains or if it pours, His love will carry you through every storm." Gina vulnerably shares this personal journey, revealing how her own medical complexity has deepened her connection to the song's message.
"Through Every Storm" releases in late August, with 50% of all proceeds directly supporting Parent Empowerment Network's mission. A beautiful music video featuring Charlotte and Emery will follow on YouTube. Whether you're sitting at a NICU bedside, up at 2 AM with a child in pain, or simply needing a reminder that you're not alone, this song offers a musical sanctuary where weary parents can find rest. Download it, share it, and let it carry you through your own storms – while helping us continue supporting families just like yours.
Links to view and download "Every Storm": https://lynkify.in/song/through-every-storm/jD2JXqMe
YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ0BRnPv7nM
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Whether you've just been blindsided by your child's diagnosis or you've been in the trenches of their complex medical needs for a while, empowered by Hope, is here for you. Though we wish you didn't know this heartache, we're so glad you found us, so together we can walk this journey in hope.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to the Empowered by Hope podcast. Today you have Emily Whiting here with Miss Gina Brooklyn and, oh my goodness, all of you who are listening. I'm so excited to share this news with you. We have been sitting on this news for well over a year.
Speaker 2:Gina News that there is a song coming out at the end of August. Not only is it a song coming out that is written with our listeners in mind parents who have children with complex medical needs but it also was written, sang, produced the whole kit and caboodle by none other than Gina Brooklyn, and she is here with us today, and she created this song really from the inspiration of this mission with Parent Empowerment Network. So I'm going to toss it over to Gina and let her introduce herself. She is an incredible singer and songwriter and I also feel humbled and grateful to say also a wonderful friend of mine who I met through a whole series of unusual events that God's fingerprints are all over, and so I'm going to let Gina just tell us a little bit about yourself, and then I can't wait to tell them about the song that's coming. That is going to just be so nourishing to all of us parents' souls. So, gina, tell us who is Gina Brooklyn.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Emily, for your very kind introduction introduction. I'm so grateful to be here with you today and to have spent so much time with you over the past couple of years collaborating and creating this piece of art that's finally going to be released into the world. It's so exciting. It's so exciting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this song has been in the works for quite some time, as you you know. It's been very interesting how it's come about just over the course of the past few years and the inspiration behind it obviously being what was originally charlotte's hope um foundation that's true. We started this from your show, yeah, primarily inspired by Charlotte's medical history and her story and, in a lot of ways, based off of a poem that you beautifully wrote.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 3:I did. I don't know, actually, I don't know if it was a poem to be sure, but I do know it was a beautiful something that you wrote. I think it was a poem and I'd say I'm 60% sure. But yeah, that was a huge part of the inspiration behind the song. But I am a singer songwriter. I have been a singer songwriter since I've been singing, since I was five. I've been writing songs since I was 12. I'm 24 now. I've been in the music industry on and off for about 10 years, actually 10, 11 years, 12 years. It's been an interesting ride. I don't plan on continuing this career, but this is kind of like my last hurrah of putting putting art out into the world in support of a mission much larger than myself, and it's been a very humbling and beautiful experience and I'm excited to support you guys in this way oh my gosh, okay, I, my brain's going a million miles a minute of ways to go with this conversation.
Speaker 2:Okay, for those of you listening, we're going to go multiple directions. First off, we're going to talk about Gina's inspiration on a personal level because she battles chronic illness and it's been quite a journey and I'm not going to tell that story for you. Of course I'm going to toss that over to you. But we're going to cover that because I think it's critical for the audience to know those who are tuning in, just how personal the song is. We're also going to talk about the lyrics of this song, because when you listen to it and of course it'll be linked in the show notes here you're just going to listen to it over and over and over and over.
Speaker 2:And when I think of the song and our listeners listening to it, I think of like your, you know, nicu bedside and you're holding your child's hand and they're fighting for their life and you're just listening to the song over and over to keep you going. Or you're in the PICU, or you're back in the ER for the millionth time, or you're up at 2 am with your child who's still having chronic pain and you can't identify it. Whatever. This song is meant to feed your soul at that moment and help you keep going. And it's written literally through the eyes of a parent caring for a child who has complex needs. So we're going to talk about that and um.
Speaker 2:And then we're going to talk about the release of this song and what it's going to mean for parent empowerment network. Uh, because Gina has been so, so generous to allow this to be a source of income for to, to allow the mission to continue. So, okay, I think maybe we should give them a sneak peek at the song with the lyrics and then go back to your story, ms Gina. Okay, so what is the title of this song? I feel like the singer, songwriter, needs to be the one who tells it, not me.
Speaker 3:No, you're fine. This song is called Through Every Storm. It was originally titled Charlotte's Song, which I think is very, very sweet thing to remember about it, but it ultimately turned into Through Every Storm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I love. I want to read to you all the beginning line. So it says every second, every moment that I get to love you is such a gift. And isn't that how we all feel as parents, no matter how hard it is, no matter the challenges that come, the uniqueness of our journey, it is such a gift that we get to be the parents of these kiddos. And then Gina goes on to say and he is a giver, oh, I am so great, I am grateful. Don't you forget that you are a miracle Again. Isn't that how we all feel of like my child is and it's true, my child is a miracle, regardless of diagnosis, regardless of challenges ahead of us. And all I hope you know, please know that even on the darkest days, when pieces of my heart may break, hope surpasses clouds of gray. No thing can take his love away. If it rains or if it pours, his love will carry you through every storm. Oh, my gosh, mic drop. I mean, that is how Ashlyn and I, I can say at least, get through every day is just continuing to hold on to the knowledge that God's holding us and we're going to put one foot in front of the other.
Speaker 2:So it is just and I can keep reading, but you got to listen to the song. It's, of course, way more impactful when Gina's singing it and I'm not reading it, but the lyrics are amazing. And then the, the music, the soundtrack you put to it. Is you struck such a balance of like hopeful and real? You know, without it being like this is rainbows and sunshine, cause it's not, but it's real. So and I remember you and I we went back and forth on that for quite a while of like, trying to nail that, that hopeful realism, which is really what we try to nail all the time with Parent Empowerment Network we're hopeful, but we're not unrealistic about the reality of what we're facing Right, absolutely. So with that, miss Gina, tell us why, why did you feel compelled to write this song and why, what got you excited about the mission?
Speaker 3:that's a good question.
Speaker 3:I think I was very I'm trying to think back to a few years ago when we met and the initial reaction and the excitement behind even the concept of putting a song together, which is fun fun to think back on, but this song I was very it's.
Speaker 3:It's something that I couldn't personally relate to.
Speaker 3:I'm not married, I don't have children, but intentionally placing myself in your shoes was a very challenging and intense experience and I think now, being where I am today, having dealt with the certain illnesses that I've dealt with and being able to relate on a more personal level, I can't even imagine still the intensity that you go through and that all of these parents go through with their children, and I can imagine it being much more painful and in a lot of ways, I think this was a real honor to be able to do my best to embody this message and perspective, to give perspective, to give people hope and to remind them that it's ultimately not us how do I put this?
Speaker 3:Let me rephrase this, sure that I have to think about this that ultimately, the only thing, not thing, that ultimately the only one who can bring us true joy and hope is Christ, and I wanted to make that the point of this song, while also, in some ways, letting it be a place for parents to rest, if that makes sense. I think you know, when we go to art we sit at the foot of the creation at hand, and that's what I wanted this song to be is a place of rest for these parents and these families.
Speaker 3:But Noah was, I think, initially a very intense and challenging experience, but a really good one and a true honor to be able to create something like this for you and Ashlyn in this organization, and I hope I did. I hope I did you guys justice by it. That's my goal.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, you did, and then some, and I love what you just said, that you hope you want to provide a place of rest for these families. And you just put words to the experience I have when I listened to this song. So I've obviously listened to it many, many times, but I listened to it one more time before we hit record so it was fresh in my brain and it's it's like a breath of fresh air of like these lyrics expressed what's really going on in my heart and, like I said, they are real about the hardship but they're looking forward towards the hope and that's what really keeps us going. So you did an amazing job and I just can't wait for our listeners to listen to the song. So amazing.
Speaker 2:And also I'm sure anyone who's listening right now would join me if you could hear in a big round of applause of just how amazing is, gina, that you took the time to put yourself in a really emotionally challenging space to try to channel this truth. You know you didn't have to do that and you did so. That is absolutely amazing. And then, since you've written it, you had you had some challenges leading up to, and since then, some more challenges of your own health, and of course you can just share whatever you want to, but I think it just makes the lyrics come to life even more because you've lived it now for your own health.
Speaker 3:Yeah, last year, in February of 2024, I was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, also known as POTS. It happened after a very intense bout of COVID. I didn't recover. I was bedridden for four months, lost my job, could not function like a normal person. Thank God I was living at home and my parents were able to help and take care of me and I've been very blessed by their generosity and kindness and care. And as time passed there was slow improvement and I was able to do things more, get a job again. You know, obviously with some challenges and still managing with the holistic treatments like cardiac rehab and excess salt. As any POTS-y person knows, lots of salt is involved in recovery and management.
Speaker 3:And then earlier this year I was hospitalized for a very yeah. In my mind, like the way that I look back at this, it's like I almost died, because in some ways it felt like I did. I don't know if I almost died, but I know that it was so severe that I had to be rushed to the ER. I was in the ER for a couple of days and then in a hospital for a couple of days, finally released, slowly got better. Then all of a sudden I started having these crazy reactions to food, to environmental stimuli, all of these things and was recently diagnosed with mast cell activation disease, which is a very, very complex disease. It appears in every person differently who has it. There are different triggers for every person. It's very individual and very unique to the individual and it's been very difficult because you know you can only eat so many foods you can only. You know I'm wearing masks in places where people are looking at me like I'm crazy. So it's very humbling in that sense, but I need it because I'm at risk of anaphylaxis at any moment. And that was a very interesting thing to be told by an allergist after you know you've recovered from an illness and then you start having these crazy things go on. And then they're like yeah, by the way, you could die at any point from anaphylactic shock, so be careful, keep your epipens at hand. And it's like what is going on? Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3:And then, on top of that, I found that I was uh, I not I found out, but I was diagnosed with hereditary alpha tryptostemia, which is tryptase. I guess an easy way I can explain it is what causes anaphylaxis and your tryptase. If it's elevated, you're at a much higher risk for anaphylaxis and in a lot of ways I'm still. This diagnosis journey is still ongoing. I'm going to be tested for mastocytosis and hopefully that comes back negative. But whatever, whatever the lord wants for my life and whatever he gives me, whatever cross he gives me, I hope can bear it well and serve him well through it. But yeah, I gave this song a whole new meaning. When you go through so much, so much physical suffering and complex medical diagnosis diagnoses Now that there's three under my belt, that's so crazy to think about, but it's interesting.
Speaker 2:And yet you always have a smile on your face. Now, granted, I know it doesn't. I say that fully knowing that you and I have shared a few tears also, but you, you go through it with such grace and beauty, and that's just something that I look up to so much and have so much admiration for you. And really, what brought Gina and I together to begin with is our faith, and while our work with Parent Empowerment Network, of course, we serve anyone of any walk of faith, whatever you know, we are there to support you, no matter what your beliefs are. And we also are very upfront that Ashlyn and I are rooted in our Christianity and that's what we work from, that's what gets us up every day, that's what is our hope. And so it's really amazing to be able to share this friendship with our listenership, because you and I, we really rooted together and met together in this space of faith together and met together in this space of faith. And so it's just amazing how this song was born from that connection.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, enough on that, I'll carry on. So, so, inspired by all of that, and what's amazing to me is Gina all along had the plan that this song was going to be a source of funding for Parent Empowerment Network before she had these diagnoses. But she was so moved by the mission and so inspired that she was offered to have 50% of the royalties come to Parent Empowerment Network. So as this song is listened to, downloaded all things, parent Empowerment Network will be able to continue its great mission through the support coming from the song as well. So I don't know if I did that justice in explaining that you know a lot more about royalties than I do, gina.
Speaker 3:No, that's perfect, that's perfect. The only thing I'll add is please go buy the song and go on your little iTunes I don't know if anybody has iTunes or goes on iTunes anymore or Amazon music and purchase for $1.29. That's how much it will be $1.29.
Speaker 2:50% of the proceeds goes to parent empowerment network. The other 50 goes to support Miss Tina and her journey, which is amazing. So, okay, they can get it on iTunes and Amazon music. Is that what you said?
Speaker 3:Yes, and I'm sure there are a bunch of other places they can download it, but I cannot think of any at the moment.
Speaker 2:Okay, and I'm sure we'll have this all linked in the show notes we are actually recording right now, mid July. It will come out in end of August, which is probably when this episode will air as well. So we'll make sure the show notes are very updated with all of the latest and greatest links so you can access this song. And as if that was not enough, miss Gina has created a music video to go with this song, and the music video features none other than Charlotte and Emery, and it is so precious. We played this music video at our last two years of our galas and every time when you look around the room after the video is turned off, you'd be hard pressed to find a dry eye. It is so moving and it's just so precious and beautiful.
Speaker 2:She, you are an artist through and through, miss Gina, because she took the photos, she took the videos, she made the music video herself, she made the art for the song, all of it. I mean, your talent knows no bounds, so I'm excited for everyone to get to see that. And, gina, how we'll have to figure this out. How will we share that music video, or is that? Does that come when they buy it?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's going to be released on YouTube probably a week or two after the song is released. Just just for fun, Keep the momentum going.
Speaker 2:I'm writing that down Cause I'm going to need to note that. Okay, cool, so we will make sure that's in the show notes too. That's going to be amazing, and just prepare yourself, have some Kleenexes on hand. It's so moving and so precious, so we will be sharing this song a bunch. It'll basically be like the anthem of Parent Empowerment Network and, gina, I just can't thank you enough. We are supporting you and encouraging you and praying for you through your own medical journey, and we're just so touched and grateful for your generosity as we support other parents who are raising kiddos with complex medical needs. So thank you so much, gina.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me. What a gift to us all.
Speaker 1:You are capable, you are equipped and you are not alone. Together, we can do hard things for our children. If this episode connected with you and you want to alone, together, we can do hard things for our children. If this episode connected with you and you want to hear more, be sure to hit the subscribe button. We would also love to learn about your personal journey and how we can support you and, last but not least, if you know of someone who could benefit from this podcast.
Speaker 3:please share when hope is buried.
