Colonel Ray Ryder flew F-16s, survived Vietnam, graduated top of his class at the Air Force's elite Fighter Weapons School — the real-life equivalent of Top Gun — and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, the United States' premier decoration for extraordinary achievement in aerial flight. He served his country for 30 years. Then Alzheimer's disease tried to take the rest.

In this episode, Kristen Rider honours her father — a man whose brilliance wasn't just found in a cockpit over Vietnam, but in the way he returned a shopping trolley, anticipated what the person next to him needed, and held everyone around him to a standard rooted in love, not fear.

Kristen shares what it was like growing up as a military child across three continents, the quiet devastation of watching a high-performing man fight a disease that robbed him of himself, and how losing her parents within years of each other led her to spend 12 years working alongside the Alzheimer's Association.

This is a story about service in its fullest sense — the kind that shows up in war, in marriage, in parenthood, and in a car park where everyone else has walked away.

Alzheimer's resources: 🇺🇸 USA: alz.org 🇬🇧 UK: alzheimers.org.uk

What happens when a brilliant coach sees potential in the kid everyone else wants to kick out?

Coach Ed Harris didn't just teach Steve Price how to play American football — he saw something in a hyperactive 11-year-old British kid who didn't know the rules, didn't respect authority, and was more interested in causing chaos than playing the game. While teachers suspended Steve, Coach Ed did something radical: he stayed.

Through relentless discipline, fourth-quarter punishment runs, and an unexpected moment of recognition, Coach Ed transformed Steve from the team's biggest liability into one of its captains. He channelled Steve's energy, backed his progress, and showed him what it means to be someone worth following.

This episode explores how one coach's refusal to give up on a difficult kid didn't just change Steve's relationship with sport — it changed the entire trajectory of his life. From Portsmouth school fights to American football stardom, this is a story about discipline, belief, and the power of seeing people for who they could become.

Content Warning: This episode contains references to drug use and the death of a teenager. Please listen with care.

Angela Mabbs never thought of herself as brilliant. But when her daughter Fiona's world shattered with the loss of her 16-year-old son Dan, Angela became the quiet force that held everything together — moving in for six weeks, shielding her family from the media storm, and playing the 'glad game' even in grief.

This is a story about a mother who taught resilience not through grand gestures, but through kindness, presence, and an unshakeable belief that there's always something to be grateful for — even when life is unimaginably hard. Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, founder of the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation and OBE recipient, shares how her mum Angela's quiet strength shaped her into someone who could turn tragedy into a mission to protect young lives through drug education.

From childhood lessons in Pollyanna's 'glad game' to five major surgeries faced with grace, Angela embodies what it means to choose light — not by denying darkness, but by refusing to let it have the final word. This episode is a love letter to the unsung brilliant humans who show up, hold space, and remind us what we're capable of becoming.

You can learn more about the amazing work Fiona and the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation are doing by visiting https://www.dsmfoundation.org.uk/