Speaker
Emilie Kiser
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Drowning is the leading cause of death in children under 3, making pool barriers and swim training critical preventative tools.
Health professionals told Emilie that grief from child loss never disappears — it becomes something you carry and learn to coexist with forever.
Emilie was just 5 weeks postpartum when Trigg's accident happened, adding an unimaginable layer of physical and emotional vulnerability to her grief.
Grief expert Dr. Joanne Cacciatori told Emilie that the popular 'stages of grief' model was not designed for parents who have lost a child.
Within 2 weeks of losing Trigg, Emilie attended a grief care farm using animal therapy and licensed professionals to begin processing the loss.
Emilie and her husband Brady have committed to weekly couples counseling to grieve together and protect their marriage.
A final promise made to Trigg — that she would care for baby brother Teddy — became Emilie's driving motivation to keep going through grief.
Losing Trigg publicly changed Emilie's relationship with social media entirely; she now maintains a strict rule of never sharing her son Teddy online.
Emilie experienced PTSD from helicopters that circled her home during the media frenzy following Trigg's accident — a trauma layer no one sees.
ISR swim training teaches young children to float on their backs fully clothed, giving rescuers more time to reach a child in danger.
Emilie urges parents to layer multiple pool safety barriers rather than rely on one solution, because no single measure is foolproof.
Emilie frames daily grief as two separate 1-10 scales — intensity of grief felt vs. ability to manage it — a framework she says is more honest than 'good day' or 'bad day'.
Just before Trigg passed away, Emilie made him a final promise — that she would take care of his baby brother Teddy. She couldn't even take care of herself at the time, but that promise has been the anchor pulling her through every unbearable moment.
Emilie Kiser was at dinner with friends, just 5 weeks postpartum, when her husband called to say their son Trigg had fallen in the pool and wasn't breathing. Within that one phone call, a normal evening became the worst night of her life.
Nobody online could say anything that would hurt Emilie more than she was already hurting herself. When you've lost a child, the internal blame and the void of their absence is the most crushing thing imaginable — external criticism barely registers.
Drowning is the leading cause of death in children under 3. Emilie Kiser pleads with every parent to layer multiple barriers: pool fences, ISR swim lessons, door alarms, automatic closers, pool sensors — because no single measure is enough, and no parent is immune.
Emilie's son Teddy brings her joy every single day. She also feels empty and sad every single day. These are not contradictions — they coexist permanently, and learning to hold them at the same time is the only way through.
Telling a grieving parent their child is 'in a better place' is a band-aid that reopens wounds. Trigg's best place was here, growing up with his brother. What actually helps: 'I'm so sorry. He deserved to be here.'
Within 2 weeks of losing Trigg, Emilie's family got her to Dr. Joanne Cacciatori's grief care farm — a place for bereaved parents that uses animal therapy alongside licensed professionals. The goal isn't to heal you. Nothing can. It's to give you tools to coexist with pain that never leaves.
When Emilie posts and appears okay, it's not because she is okay — it's because social media is her job and she's choosing what to share. Her deepest grief belongs to her therapist and her husband, not the internet.
There is no way to describe losing a child to someone who hasn't experienced it. Emilie says she was shocked by her own thought process — even the people who theorized how they would handle it have no idea. The emotion overrides every rational faculty.
Losing a child shows you in the most terrifying way how quickly life can be taken. Emilie was scared of parenting Teddy after Trigg's death — but she made a choice: derail completely, or become the best mother she could possibly be. She chose the latter.
Photos of Trigg are everywhere in Emilie's home. His name comes up daily. She and Brady told their family from the beginning: Trigg is never an avoided subject. His little brother Teddy will grow up knowing exactly who his brother was.
Emilie felt rage toward her husband Brady in the aftermath of Trigg's accident. The turning point came when she realized the accident could just as easily have happened on her watch — and that is what gave her real, raw empathy and ultimately the capacity for forgiveness.
Emilie frames every day not as 'good' or 'bad' but on two separate scales of 1-10: how intense the grief feels, and how well you're managing it. If your grief is an 8 but your ability to manage is a 10, that's a good-ish day.
ISR (Infant Swimming Resource) lessons teach young children to float on their backs, even fully clothed, so they can stay above water long enough for someone to rescue them. Emilie is enrolling Teddy as soon as he is eligible.
Grief professionals taught Emilie that grief from child loss never ends — it simply becomes something you carry alongside every other emotion forever. The 'stages of grief' model was designed for elderly people facing their own death, not for parents who outlive their children.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Society & Culture 64%
- Health & Fitness 36%
