What happens when the life you built looks whole from the outside, but inside, you’re quietly falling apart?

For Rish, the unraveling began with grief. The sudden death of one of his closest friends reopened wounds he didn’t yet understand, including the loss of his father and childhood trauma he had buried for decades. Then came fatherhood, a source of enormous love, but also an unexpected trigger for pain he couldn't name.

He began drinking. His marriage deteriorated. And surrounded by a culture that told him to “man up,” keep moving and push his emotions aside, Rish found himself sinking deeper into isolation, shame and hopelessness.

Until he made a plan to end his life.

He wrote letters for his young son to open on future birthdays. He prepared his goodbyes. He chose the day.

And then, in a series of seemingly ordinary moments, including a closed gym, a brutal workout and a room full of strangers cheering him on, something shifted.

Rish survived that day. But survival was only the beginning.

In this deeply vulnerable episode of The Fire Inside, Rish takes us inside the years that followed: therapy that uncovered childhood sexual abuse he had never fully confronted, learning to understand the trauma behind his behavior, rebuilding his relationship with himself, redefining masculinity, and creating the support system he once desperately needed.

Today, the man who once believed his son might be better off without him is determined to help create a world where boys and men know that vulnerability and strength can exist in the same body, and where asking for help is never something to be ashamed of.

Through his book, Break Up With Yourself, his advocacy, fatherhood and even the miles he now runs in honor of survivors, Rish has transformed some of the darkest chapters of his life into purpose.

This conversation is raw. It is tender. And above all, it is a reminder that the version of you who is hurting today does not get to decide how the rest of your story ends.

Your life can change. Your pain can become purpose. And sometimes, the smallest moment is the one that keeps you here long enough to find out what comes next.

Content note: This episode contains candid conversations about suicide, alcohol misuse, childhood sexual abuse, trauma and mental health.

Jack Fronczak was raised as Paul Fronczak — a kidnapped baby supposedly reunited with his grieving Chicago family in the 1960s. But something never felt right. He never connected with his family. He didn't look like them. His name didn't feel like his.

At 10 years old, Jack crawled into his family's crawl space looking for Christmas presents and found newspaper headlines instead: Hunt for Missing Kidnapped Child. His mom's response when he ran upstairs? "You were kidnapped. We found you. We love you. We'll never speak of this again."

It took decades and a $25 DNA kit from a CVS pharmacy to get the real answer.

In this episode, host Sarada sits down with Jack for an unscripted, deeply personal conversation about:

→ Growing up as someone else and never feeling like you belonged→ The DNA test that confirmed he was NOT Paul Fronczak→ His selfless first mission: to find the real kidnapped Paul and give his parents closure→ The moment he learned his true name — Jack Thomas Rosenthal — and that he has a missing twin sister named Jill→ Digging graves, chasing tips, and navigating a decade of dead ends→ How his podcast, The Fronczak Files, now helps others find their true identities — free of charge→ What he'd say to anyone living a life that doesn't feel like their own

Jack's story is featured in the CNN documentary The Lost Sons and told in depth in his books The Foundling and True Identity. His journey is still ongoing — he still hasn't found Jill.

This is a story about identity, perseverance, truth, and what it means to finally become yourself.

Jojo Dries grew up in a house where the people who were supposed to protect her were the ones doing the harm.

The abuse started when she was 9. She was homeschooled, isolated, with no one outside the family to turn to. She didn't even have the language for what was happening. Only the feeling that something was wrong, and that fighting back made things worse. When she did fight back, her siblings blamed her. Her mother stayed silent. Her father continued.

She carried that alone for nearly two decades.

When she finally left in her late 20s, she cut off her entire family and started over from nothing. Most people would have taken that hard-won peace and held onto it quietly. Jojo didn't.

She founded On the Wings of Angels, a nonprofit built to give survivors what she never had: a community that shows up, listens, and refuses to let them feel alone. Hundreds of people have come through its doors. The number keeps growing.

In this conversation, Jojo talks about all of it — the abuse, the silence, the dissociation, the leaving, the building. She also talks about where her fire comes from, what she would say to her 9-year-old self, and what she wants anyone who feels stuck to hear right now.

At 18 years old, Ray "Speedy" Walker was in a car accident that left him paralyzed...and took his mother's life. He woke up in the hospital alone, with no family allowed in due to COVID restrictions, and had to process everything by himself.

In this conversation, Speedy gets real about the darkest moments: crying every night, feeling like a burden, and the times he wanted to end it all. He also talks about what pulled him through: his faith, Split Second Fitness, a Queer Eye episode that gave him a fully accessible apartment, and the social media community that reminded him his story matters.

Speedy lives authentic resilience every day. And that's exactly what makes this conversation so powerful.

Topics covered:

— The car accident and its immediate aftermath

— Losing his mother on the same day

— Navigating grief and paralysis simultaneously

— What people don't understand about life with a spinal cord injury

— Finding Split Second Fitness and what community meant for his recovery

— Filming Queer Eye and gaining independence

— Building a platform to inspire others

— Handling setbacks — including his car being stolen

— Suicidal ideation and how he found reasons to stay

— Where his fire inside comes from

Follow Speedy: @speedy4prezident on Instagram and TikTok

Support Split Second Fitness: @splitsecondfit on Instagram

The Fire Inside is hosted by Sarada Duvvuri and produced by Essdee Productions / The Rise Project.

New episodes bi-weekly.

Kathleen never saw herself as a cancer patient — she was aprofessor, a mom to two daughters adopted from China, a cyclist climbingColorado's Rocky Mountains. Then thyroid cancer came at 45. Then colorectalcancer at 60, in the middle of a COVID lockdown, with zero symptoms except oneincident she almost ignored.

In this deeply moving episode, Kathleen takes us throughtwo very different cancer journeys — the calm of thyroid surgery at MDAnderson, and the brutal reality of 8 rounds of chemo, 15 days in a New Yorkhospital, and the 'cancer pinata party' she threw before surgery. She opens upabout toxic positivity, what to say (and not say) to someone with cancer, how acycling club became her lifeline, and why her fire inside comes straight fromher mom.

Whether you're navigating your own health crisis,supporting a loved one, or simply looking for a dose of honest, humanresilience — this episode is for you.

📌 Topics covered:

• Her first cancer: thyroid cancer diagnosed at 45 |Choosing MD Anderson over standard care

• COVID-era diagnosis: colorectal cancer discovered byaccident on a road trip

• Chemo reality: what accumulation feels like, why cryingcaused a searing headache

• 15-day hospital stay that was supposed to be 3 days —and Plan B that saved her

• Toxic positivity & cancer warrior language — whatthe community actually wants to hear

• How cycling, 'Partners in Climb,' and ColoTown becameher pillars of recovery

• Her book on renewable energy politics coming from OxfordUniversity Press in 2026

• The fire inside: a tribute to her late mother

He lost his mother at 16. Six years later, Chicago detectives took everything else.

After a grueling 30-hour interrogation — no food, no sleep, handcuffed to a wall — Deon Patrick signed a confession he didn't write.

He spent the next 21 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit. Evidence showed his co-defendant was already in police custody when the crime took place. None of it mattered.

In 2013, Deon was exonerated and issued a Certificate of Innocence. A federal jury later awarded him $13.3 million in a civil rights verdict against the City of Chicago for manufacturing evidence and suppressing the truth.

He is one of the four men behind The Hazel Boyz: The Trials of Four Innocent Men and today works in restorative justice and youth mentorship on the streets he grew up on.

In this conversation, Deon discusses:

• the 30-hour interrogation that made him question his own innocence,

• watching the OJ verdict from a prison cell,

• what he did the moment he walked free after two decades,

• and the work he's doing today so the next generation doesn't end up where he did.

This is more than a story of survival. It's a necessary look at a system that treated four young men as disposable — and the one who refused to let that be the final word.

Don't just listen. Share it.

The Hazel Boyz: The Trials of Four Innocent Men — Amazon & Barnes & Noble

Rachel Socorro was 19 years old when someone she trusted handed her to a trafficker.

What followed was captivity, violence, and choices no woman should ever have to make.

What came after is the reason this episode exists.

Today Rachel runs Total Life Wellness -- a national life recovery ministry that has helped over 500 survivors of trafficking,abuse, and addiction. She is the author of Living Proof.

And she has one message for anyone still in the dark: better is possible.

In this conversation with host Sarada Duvvuri, Rachel talks about:

-- Growing up in Kent, Ohio and the childhood wound of abandonment

-- Being groomed and trafficked at 19 by a trusted family member

-- The moment a gun changed everything

-- Surviving captivity while pregnant

-- Escaping, rebuilding, and the spiral that followed freedom

-- How faith became the foundation -- even when she was furious at God

-- Opening her home and loving 500 strangers back to life

-- Her core belief: your experiences do not define you

CONNECT WITH RACHEL

Book: Living Proof -- available on Amazon

Ministry and donations:TotalLifeWellness.org

On Father's Day 2008, Joseph Groh went for a quick bike ride near his home in Grapevine, Texas. A patch of sand sent him over the handlebars. He broke his neck at C4 and was paralyzed from the neck down. He was 53 years old.

One year later, he founded the Joseph S. Groh Foundation — a nonprofit that has since helped 146 families across 38 states, distributing over $1.4 million in grants to workers in the construction trades living with life-altering disabilities.

In this conversation, Joe takes us back to the trail, through the hospital, and into the quiet, incremental process of rebuilding with purpose. We talk about the decision he made lying on the ground — "I could never give up" — and how that mindset carried him through 17 years of challenges and into a life more meaningful than the one before.

Joe is also the author of From Two Wheels to Four, a memoir about his journey from accident to advocacy.

If you've ever faced something that felt impossible to come back from, this one is for you.

Learn more: josephgrohfoundation.org