Tessa and Zoe don't just share the same last name. At only 9 years old, Zoe “pooped in a blender” to save her aunt Tessa's life via fecal transplant. Today, Zoe is a high school student with her sights set on medical school and managing her own congenital sensorineural hearing-loss, and Tessa has published her first book that offers solidarity and wisdom from her rollercoaster ride with Crohn's disease. In this episode, Tessa and Zoe open up about their donor-recipient relationship, the deep insights they’ve gleaned from each other’s physical challenges, and the fine line patients walk in not over-identifying with their disease while not living in denial of it. They discuss how acceptance ebbs and flows in their lives, at times leaning more into fixing, and late-night doom scrolling, while at other times embracing what is and advocating for what's right.
