Sickboy - podcast cover

Sickboy

CBC

Sickboy is the only place where terminal diagnoses can peacefully coexist with jokes we probably shouldn't make. Hosted by three best friends, Jeremie, Brian, and Taylor, this show smashes taboos around illness, death, and everything in between. Inspired by Jeremie’s life with Cystic Fibrosis, we dive headfirst into the uncomfortable, the hilarious, and the heartbreaking. We talk to people living with everything from chronic disease to catastrophic injury, mental health struggles to medical miracles - and we do it with radical empathy, zero BS, and the kind of unfiltered jokes that get us kicked out of support groups. If you’ve ever felt weird, broken, or like no one gets it, welcome. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Pull up a seat; it’s gonna get real.


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Episodes

The Truth About Hypnobirthing (And Why It Might Be Gaslighting You)

What if you could turn off the most agonizing pain imaginable just by thinking about a waterfall? Or better yet, what if a guy in a purple silk robe could cure you by waving a magnet over your junk? This week, Jeremie takes Brian and Taylor on a wild, mind-bending trip into the billion-dollar industry of Hypnobirthing and the dark, bizarre history of hypnosis. From 18th-century "Animal Magnetism" and the accidental discovery of the placebo effect, to a 19th-century surgeon who removed 80-pound s...

Jun 10, 202653 minEp. 558

One Black Man’s experience in Battling Cystic Fibrosis

What do you do when a life-saving medical breakthrough saves almost everyone in your chronic illness community—except you? If you’re new to the show, Cystic Fibrosis is traditionally known as a genetic disease that heavily impacts the lungs. But this week, the fellas sit down with Nicholas Kelly, a registered dietitian who playfully calls himself a "unicorn" because he’s a Black man living with a condition stereotypically labeled as a pasty white person's illness. (Oh, and Taylor passed out righ...

Jun 03, 202647 minEp. 557

Arguing With "Dr. Dickhead" At The Transplant Clinic | 8 Autoimmune Diseases

What do you do when your own immune system decides to treat your organs like an all-you-can-eat buffet and drops eight separate medical diagnoses on your lap? This week, the brilliant and unapologetically defiant Jennifer Park joins the fellas to tier-rank her massive collection of interlocking illnesses. From competitive pro bodybuilding while navigating liver cirrhosis, to sneaking a giant wooden shower brush into high-level executive meetings just to fight off a systemic itch that literally f...

May 27, 20261 hr 6 minEp. 556

"Has She Seen You Naked?" & Other Caregiver Confessions

What happens when the person keeping you alive is also the person roasting your life choices the hardest? If you’re new to the show, Brock is our brilliant, hilarious resident intern who navigates life with Cerebral Palsy. But this week, we’re turning the spotlight on the real hero of his life. His long-term care worker (and for sure NOT his wife) Katherine, joins the fellas to talk about the chaotic, beautiful, and hilariously messy reality of being a Personal Support Worker (PSW). From catastr...

May 20, 202648 minEp. 555

My Brain Exploded (Twice) | Sunken Bone Flap Syndrome

What happens when your brain is a literal ticking time bomb and nobody tells you until it goes off? Meet Martin. At 16, he was just a normal kid until a rare brain malformation (AVM) ruptured, sending him into a month-long coma where he "tripped balls" to a Lil Wayne soundtrack provided by the ICU staff. But the rupture was only the beginning. After a grueling months long recovery he got hit with a second rupture, a brain infection, and devestating complications he was left with "Sunken Bone Fla...

May 13, 202653 minEp. 554

When Running Breaks Your Vagina | Osteitis Pubis

What happens when you think you have a stubborn UTI, but you’ve actually fractured your pubic bone from running too many damn marathons? This week, the fellas sit down with Genevieve, a distance runner who woke up one morning feeling like she’d been kicked in the box. Literally. After two months of a particularly painful "detective" mission It turns out she has Osteitis Pubis. A stress fracture in the cartilage where your hip bones meet. Genevieve gets raw and hilarious about the work required t...

May 06, 202655 minEp. 553

Why Is a Super Bowl Champ Talking About HPV?

What does a Super Bowl champion know about a virus most men think is "just a women's problem"? Laurent Duvernay-Tardif has spent his life protecting quarterbacks, but now he’s on a mission to protect your health. In this episode, the NFL star and medical resident joins the boys to strip away the stigma surrounding HPV. We dive into the startling reality that 75% of sexually active Canadians will contract HPV, yet most men have zero clue about the long-term consequences. Laurent breaks down why h...

Apr 29, 202646 minEp. 552

Dating a Psychologist with Cerebral Palsy (It’s a Mindf*ck)

What do you do when you’re born with a brain-body communication glitch?. If you’re Dr. Dan, you don't just "manage". You go out and collect a PhD, a Paralympic gold medal in table tennis, and a career as a dating coach just to keep things interesting. This week, the fellas sit down with the legendary Dr. Dan to talk about life with Spastic Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy. Dan gets real about the "Super Crip" pressure to be ten times better than everyone else just to be seen as equal. But the real me...

Apr 22, 202659 minEp. 551

Flying High & Pooping Low: A Flight Surgeon’s Guide to Colon Cancer

What do high-performance fighter jets and a stage four cancer diagnosis have in common? More than you think. This week, we’re joined by Dr. Avishek “Avi” Kumar, a man who pulls double duty as both a practicing oncologist and a U.S. Air Force Flight Surgeon. Avi spends his time breaking the sound barrier in F-16s and fighting the "slow-motion car crash" of cancer diagnoses in young adults. We dive into the "too young" trap: why 30-year-olds are increasingly being hit with colon cancer and why the...

Apr 15, 202650 minEp. 550

15 Weeks Early & 8 Days Apart: The Trauma of a Micro-Preemie Birth

What happens when your body decides to Marie Kondo your entire large intestine, but the healthcare system treats your "vestibule" like an optional extra? This week we sit down with Emily. At 23, she went from a "healthy" young woman to shitting blood 20 times a day which eventually led to living life with a permanent Barbie butthole. But the real horror story isn't the Ulcerative Colitis diagnosis; it’s what happens when you try to navigate a high-risk pregnancy in a system that compartmentalize...

Apr 08, 20261 hr 20 min

"My Brain is Draining Into My Stomach" | Spina Bifida

What do you do when your spine decides to "leak" before you're even born, leaving you with a "jizzy back rat" and a tube running from your brain to your belly? We’ve covered Spina Bifida before, but never quite like this. Meet Joshua, a man who has spent 48 years navigating the world from a wheelchair and dealing with an exposed spine. AKA Spina Bifida. The fellas get up close and personal with the medical realities of "leaky" spines and the surgical interventions that happen before a baby even ...

Apr 01, 202658 minEp. 548

“I Was Sh*tting Blood and Still Playing” | Ulcerative Colitis Athlete

What happens when you go from a senior spring break in Jamaica to poopin "gallons of blood" in the ER? Meet Taryn: 20 years old, a D1 volleyball player for the University of Northern Iowa, and a total boss living with Ulcerative Colitis (UC). After a senior trip to Jamaica turned into a month-long nightmare of abdominal pain, internal bleeding, and a very wrong E. coli diagnosis, Taryn had to face a new reality: a chronic "sister disease" to Crohn's. In this episode, we get into the literal weed...

Mar 25, 202655 minEp. 547

Born Without an Eye | Unilateral Anaphthalmia & The Disability Spectrum

What happens when you’re born with a medical anomaly so rare that doctors treat you like a "cluster of defects," but you grow up feeling completely able-bodied? This week, the boys sit down with Kayla, who was born with unilateral anaphthalmia. Which is a fancy way of saying she was born without one of her eyes. But the "missing eye" is actually the least wild part of this story. Kayla takes us deep into the "Wild West" of 90s medicine, where she underwent six major facial surgeries between the ...

Mar 18, 202654 minEp. 546

Getting Your Back Blown Out | $40K Hernia

It may have started with a joke about getting his "back blown out", but it turned into a wild story of a two-year medical saga involving brutal nerve pain, mobility issues, and a diagnosis nobody saw coming? Meet our new friend Ryan, a professional drummer who felt a literal "pop" in his back while he was sick and quickly realized his life was about to change. After months of being told it was just "getting old" and facing the classic medical gaslighting shuffle, Ryan took his health into his ow...

Mar 11, 202649 minEp. 545

Your Body is Allergic to... Everything? | Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

What happens when the person paid to have all the answers suddenly gets hit with a medical mystery that turns their world entirely upside down? Vicki Jeha is a counseling therapist who spent years helping people navigate their own minds—until her own body decided to stage a coup. In 2023, mid-therapy session, Vicki’s vision started sliding, her limbs went numb, and she was carried out of her office on a stretcher. The diagnosis? A double-whammy of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) and Histami...

Mar 05, 20261 hr 6 minEp. 544

"I Fell 11 Stories and Should be Dead” | Walking Paraplegic

What happens when your paragliding wing folds in half 165 feet in the air, sending you on an 11-story plunge directly onto your ass? (Spoiler: You wake up and start a career in musical theater.) Most people’s worst nightmare involves falling out of the sky. For CJ, that nightmare became a violent reality. On a "big air" day in Pemberton, BC, CJ’s paragliding shute collapsed, and he fell 165 feet shattering nearly his entire lower spine, blowing out his sternum, and becoming a walking paraplegic....

Feb 25, 202655 minEp. 543

16% Diaphragm, 100% Genius: How AI is Saving Cho’s Voice

What happens when your body is slowly losing its ability to breathe, but your brain is busy building the future of technology? This week, the fellas (and a very helpful Brock) sit down with Chouaieb (Cho), an AI Black Belt at Google who is quite literally using technology as a personal savior. Cho lives with Ulrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (UCMD), a rare condition that has left his diaphragm functioning at just 16% capacity. For Cho, the "AI revolution" isn't about deepfakes or taking jobs ...

Feb 18, 20261 hr 2 minEp. 542

"My Tongue is Shedding" | Refractory Myasthenia Gravis

What do you do when your own tongue starts "shedding" like a snake and your doctor tells you to just "eat a banana"? Imagine waking up and seeing the world through 90s TV static, while your muscles literally stretch and tear like gum when you yawn. Làyla joins the boys to break down the reality of living with Refractory Myasthenia Gravis (MG), a version of the illness so stubborn it requires constant infusions just to keep her stable. From the terrifying moment she realized her jaw was atrophyin...

Feb 11, 20261 hr 13 minEp. 541

My Spleen Is Where My Lungs Should Be | CDH

What happens when your abdomen decides it's tired of the basement and wants to move into the penthouse suite? This week, we sit down with Jude, who was born with a rare birth defect called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). In plain English: they had a hole in their diaphragm (the dinner-plate-sized muscle that keeps your "upstairs" and "downstairs" separate) and their organs decided to throw a housewarming party in their chest cavity. We're talking a spleen, liver, and bowels all fighting f...

Feb 04, 202652 minEp. 540

A Love Affair with the Unknown: How Gill Deacon Beat Long COVID

What happens when a "Professional Knower" gets hit with a disease that has absolutely zero f*cking answers? Broadcasting legend and former CBC host Gill Deacon spent her life demanding answers for the public, but in 2022, her own body became the ultimate mystery. From her heart feeling like a "motorized toy" to wearing a wool toque 24/7 just to feel a semblance of warmth, Gill takes us through the 20-month wilderness of Long COVID. In this episode, we dig into the "stew of symptoms" that forced ...

Jan 28, 20261 hr 8 minEp. 539

My Sister Confessed Her Dark Secret to Me While I was in A Coma | Stroke at 21

Imagine being 21 years old, trapped in a two-week coma, completely unable to move or speak, while your sister leans over your bed and confesses her deepest darkest secret to you, and you hear the whole thing. This week, we sit down with Melanie, who at 21 years old, went from a "parking lot" migraine on the 401 to a life-saving brain surgery that left her in a two-week coma . But Melanie wasn't just "asleep"—she describes a vivid, "locked-in" experience where she heard every secret her friends w...

Jan 21, 202657 minEp. 538

The "Mindf***" of Long COVID: From CEO to "Currently Disabled"

Briefing the President one day, forgetting how to cook bacon the next. What happens when a high-achieving powerhouse (Harvard grad, Wall Street alum, and Obama White House staffer) suddenly loses her most prized asset: her mind? Marisa Renee Lee joins the boys to get brutally honest about her "dumpster fire" journey with Long COVID. From the visceral pain of biting through a night guard in her sleep to the terrifying moment her larynx was 70% blocked while on a "restorative" trip to Greece, Mari...

Jan 14, 202653 minEp. 537

"I Woke Up With No Hands" | The Reality of "Flesh-Eating Disease"

You know that irrational fear that a simple sore throat or a gym injury might actually be something way worse? Well, for Scott, that nightmare became a reality in the most terrifying way possible. At 35, Scott was living the dream as an elite, nationally ranked college soccer coach. He was unstoppable—until he wasn't. After feeling under the weather which doctors initially dismissed as a minor illness turned out to be Group A Strep, which rapidly evolved into Necrotizing Fasciitis (the media lov...

Jan 07, 20261 hrEp. 536

Giddy Up: How To Love A Parent Who Is Living In A Different Reality

It’s been eight years since Marnie first sat down with the fellas, and let’s just say… things haven’t exactly slowed down. Back in 2018, Marnie was a 23-year-old trying to navigate her mother’s sudden and terrifying diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. Now, at 31, she’s back in the studio to give us the raw, unfiltered update on what happens after the diagnosis. Marnie takes us through the absolute rollercoaster of the last few years. From her mom’s near-death experience involving a ruptured bow...

Dec 31, 202551 minEp. 535

Something's Wrong With Mom - Paranoid Schizophrenia

This week on Sickboy, we go way back to an episode we originally aired in 2018. We chat with Marnie about an experience that isn't her own but one that has changed her life forever. Paranoid Schizophrenia. She grew up in a household where mom and dad don't get along. They fall into a devastating divorce, and soon after mom begins to believe that drones with lasers are following her everywhere and silently attacking her internal organs and slowly killing her. A jam packed episode of heartbreak, h...

Dec 24, 20251 hr 10 minEp. 535

Shitting Your Pants at Work (And Other Career Tips) | Crohn's Disease

You’re in a high-stakes meeting. You’re wearing a power suit. And you just shit your ankle socks. What do you do? This week, we sit down with Meg, a lawyer who is navigating the high-pressure corporate world while battling Crohn’s Disease. We dive deep into the messy side of chronic illness that LinkedIn doesn't tell you about: The shame of "potty breaks," the legal right to accommodations that nobody talks about, and the absolute mind-f*ck of having a partner who literally studies your disease ...

Dec 17, 20251 hr 12 minEp. 534

"I Identify As Blind" | Blind, Black, and Badass

Lachi thinks the way we talk about disability is boring, so she’s here to make it glam, loud, and impossible to ignore. This week, the boys are joined by recording artist, Grammy Trustee, and CEO of RAMPD, Lachi. She breaks down why she went from throwing her white cane into traffic as a kid to turning it into a high-fashion statement today. We dive deep into the concept of "Maladaptive Daydreaming" (and Jer’s sudden realization that he definitely has it), the crucial difference between the "Cha...

Dec 10, 202550 minEp. 533

Is Your Mental Illness Real? A Psychiatrist Says... Maybe Not.

Dr. Sami Timimi is a psychiatrist with a bone to pick with his own profession: he thinks we’ve fallen down a diagnostic rabbit hole, and he’s here to help us climb back out. This week, the boys sit down with the child psychiatrist who is effectively flipping the table on his own profession. We live in an era where everyone and their dog seems to have a diagnosis. But what if those labels (ADHD, Depression, Autism) aren't actually explaining why we struggle, but are just describing how we struggl...

Dec 03, 20251 hr 5 minEp. 532

Targeted: Why We Treat Gun Owners Like They’re Sick

Welp... Jer bought a gun. And let's just say his progressive friend group had some thoughts. This week, the boys are joined by Noah Schwartz, author of Targeted, to figure out why the topic of firearms immediately feels like a diagnosis. We dive into Jer's journey to getting his PAL (for the love of ethical moose meat, not a zombie apocalypse... probably), the massive cultural gap between Canadian and American gun owners, and the history of framing guns as a "public health crisis." Is owning a f...

Nov 26, 202554 minEp. 531

Childhood Trauma Caused a 'Software Glitch' in my Brain | Functional Neurological Disorder

Imagine your brain’s hardware is perfect, but the software is glitching so badly your body stops working. We sit down with Erum, a biochemist who navigates the world with a rare and often misunderstood condition: Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). We Raw Dog into the fascinating science behind the diagnosis. Basically her brain has a "software glitch" but the hardware is pristine. So how, and why is it causing the left side of her body to physically fail during flare-ups? Erum shares her ha...

Nov 19, 202559 minEp. 530
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