Mike Gomoll in the hot seat with Grief. Love. Legacy

In this powerful episode of Listen Bitch Presents: Tell Me Why You’re Special, Branden sits down with Mike Gomoll, founder of Joey’s Song, a nationally recognized charitable organization created in honor of his son Joey.

Mike shares the emotional journey of raising a child with Dravet Syndrome, a rare and severe form of epilepsy that profoundly impacted his family’s life. He opens up about the uncertainty of diagnosis, the challenges of special needs parenting, the strain placed on relationships, and the difficult reality of watching a child face obstacles most parents never imagine.

Throughout the conversation, Mike reflects on Joey’s remarkable spirit, his love for music, and the lessons he taught everyone around him about joy, resilience, and living fully in the present moment. The discussion explores grief, anger, unconditional love, parenting, marriage, faith, community support, and the complicated emotions families experience while caring for children with significant medical needs.

Mike explains how Joey’s Song transformed from personal heartbreak into a nationally respected charitable movement that raises money for epilepsy and neurofibromatosis research through music, advocacy, and community connection. What began as grief became a mission that continues helping countless families facing similar challenges.

This episode is a powerful reminder that while tragedy may shape our stories, it doesn’t have to define them. It’s a conversation about turning loss into legacy, finding purpose through pain, and discovering hope in the middle of life’s hardest seasons.

Joey Gomoll died in 2010, just shy of his 5th birthday, after battling a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet's Syndrome his entire life. Upon his passing, his family started  a charity called Joey's Song to help raise money to fund research grants focused on finding treatments and cures for rare, intractable, pediatric epilepsies. In the 15-plus years since Joey's death, Joey's Song has grown from a few acoustic guitars in a sports bar to a multi-day concert series featuring Grammy winners and Rock n Roll Hall of Famers (Members of bands like Cheap Trick, Guns N Roses, The Go-Go's, The Bangles, Tears For Fears, Garbage, Portugal.The Man, Goo Goo Dolls, Eve 6, Everclear and many more). This amazing collection of musicians gathers every January in Madison, WI. They volunteer their time and talent, and form a series of supergroups throughout the weekend for a one-of-a-kind concert event.

Since its inception, Joey's Song has been a part of over $ 2 million raised and has had over 10,000 attendees in just the last two years.

Joey's Song is the story of finding meaning in tragedy, of the amazingly generous spirit of the rock music community, and of how one family can turn a couple of emails into an event that impacts an entire community.

You hear the stories of how artists who normally sell out big stadiums come together to play these amazing one-and-done shows. How the super groups are formed and some behind-the-scenes stories that will leave you in awe of these talented artists and maybe scratching your head about how it all comes together.

https://www.joeyssong.org
Because Joey's Song is a 100% volunteer organization - no paid staff and all of our performers donate their time and talent - we are able to take the bulk of ticket sales, donations, and merchandise sales and turn them into research grants.  Our website and social media provide regular updates and links to our various events and activities, and allow anyone to join us in our fight to end these terrible seizures that take lives and steal futures.

By going to our website and following via social media, you will get access to incredible performances and the chance to win one-of-a-kind experiences - like artist meet and greets and signed memorabilia - all in service of our mission to fund this desperately needed research.