Who We Become - Life Beyond Change
We Are Not Our Diagnosis with Linda & Tamara Zoldak
A mother and a daughter — and a story that began long before either of them ever heard the word "diagnosis." It started with a loss: Linda Zoldak lost her only child. Then, an ocean away, a beginning — a 22-month-old named Tamara, adopted from Bulgaria into Linda's arms. Decades later, Linda was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis, and Tamara — a paramedic living with her own fibromyalgia — stepped into caregiving. Two women, two chronic illnesses, one shared refusal to let those labels become the whole story. In this episode, Amanda Lentz talks with Linda and Tamara Zoldak — mother, daughter, and co-authors of We Are Not Our Diagnosis: Life Beyond Multiple Sclerosis and Fibromyalgia — with both of their voices in the room. They talk about grief and starting over, the family that began across an ocean, living as both patient and caregiver, and why they wrote a book together as "a home for the uncertainty." For anyone living with chronic illness, caregiving for someone they love, or learning to hold a hard label without letting it become who they are. Linda & Tamara's book: - We Are Not Our Diagnosis: Life Beyond Multiple Sclerosis and Fibromyalgia Who We Become — Life Beyond Change, hosted by Amanda Lentz. New episodes weekly on identity, reinvention, resilience, and navigating life's transitions. amandalentz.com Shared as their personal story, not medical advice.
