Friday May 09, 2025

EP07: Michelle Swanson: Stamp Your Soul Moments

Becoming a widow at 44 forced Michelle Swanson to confront everything she had been avoiding… grief, money, motherhood, and mortality, with no plan and no pause.

Just seven months after marrying her husband Bill, Michelle was faced with the unimaginable: a sudden decline from colon cancer, a life-changing loss, and the emotional and financial chaos that followed. As she joins host Justin Weidenfeld, Michelle reflects on the caregiving decisions she made alone, the late-night Google searches, the resentment she carried, and the strength she didn’t realize she had.

What happens when you never talk about end-of-life wishes? What if no one ever taught you how to manage money, but now you’re responsible for everything? Michelle opens up about the structure Bill brought into their lives, the silence around his illness, and the hard lessons she learned about credit, independence, and starting over. She shares how grief rewired her relationship with money, how caregiving left her emotionally exhausted, and why she’s committed to helping others get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

From raising college-aged sons through the fog of loss to advocating for colorectal cancer awareness and teaching kids at Experience Camps, Michelle’s story is a reminder that love leaves a legacy, and so does planning ahead.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Introduction

01:45 Meet Michelle Swanson

03:06 Becoming a Widow at 44

07:09 Bill’s Colon Cancer Diagnosis

09:05 Losing a Spouse and the Aftermath

13:42 Who Bill Was Before the Diagnosis

18:07 Why Colonoscopies Matter

21:07 Delayed Health Decisions and Regrets

26:07 Caregiving and Emotional Strain

30:10 Support Systems and Survival Mode

33:00 Healing, Therapy, and Self-Discovery