Grab your Kleenex. Or if you’re feeling especially macho, get ready to pretend there’s something in your eye.
This episode is not about staying positive or pushing through.
It is about what happens when a man spends years fighting to see his kids and then gets diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer while that fight is still ongoing.
In this episode of Man Down, Jason sits down with Adam Cousins, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, husband, father, stepdad, and cancer survivor.
For more than a decade, Adam was locked in a family court battle trying to have a relationship with his children. Years of limited access. Years of missed time. Years of showing up and being told it still was not enough.
Then, in the middle of that fight, he was diagnosed with a fast moving lymphoma and thrown into months of intense chemotherapy.
This conversation covers:
* What it is like to fight for your kids for years without resolution
* Hearing the words “you have cancer” and realizing you have to fight for your life while you’re fighting for your kids.
* Going through aggressive chemo while waiting on a court decision
* Grieving children who are still alive
* The toll this kind of loss takes on a man’s identity
* Why shutting down feels safer but costs you so much more in the long run.
There is no redemption arc here. No clean ending. No motivational spin.
Just a real conversation about endurance, grief, anger, and what it takes to keep showing up when life keeps taking things away.
It’s also a beautiful love story that shows what most men know, but don’t say enough: We’re immeasurably better when we have someone who loves us walking arm in arm with us.
This episode is for:
* Men dealing with serious illness
* Fathers who have lost access to their kids
* Guys who are holding it together on the outside
* Leaders who are realizing strength is not the same as silence
If you have ever felt worn down by a fight that never seems to end, this episode will hit close to home.
If this episode hit close to home, the 10 Realities Men Run Into After Loss (and No One Warns Them About) guide goes deeper.
