116: The Umbrella Hour with Dr. An Goldbauer & Zander Keig LCSW & guest Sam Dylan Finch

116: The Umbrella Hour with Dr. An Goldbauer & Zander Keig LCSW & guest Sam Dylan Finch

Experience the emotional and inspiring tales of recovery as The Umbrella Hour shares Sam Dylan Finch’s extraordinary brush with death and what came after. This episode centres on a prolonged near-death experience, medical gaslighting, and the surprising freedom that came from finally letting go. Sam talks through months of terrifying symptoms, countless 999 calls, and being repeatedly told he was just having panic attacks. As he puts it, “A panic attack does not give you ammonia breath.

You don’t lose 11 pounds in one day.” When no one in the system seemed willing to take him seriously, he reached a stark conclusion: “No one’s going to help me… this is actually a lost cause.” What follows is a powerful shift from white‑knuckled survival to calm surrender. Sam describes telling his loved ones he might die, relaxing every muscle in his body, and watching his heart rate drop to a steady 60 beats per minute.

From there, he starts treating every extra day as a gift – dancing when he can, draining fluid himself at home, and leaning on the nervous‑system skills he’s taught others for years. You’ll hear how this crisis reshaped everything: his relationship with his body, his understanding of chronic illness, and his choice to reconnect with estranged parents and queer community.

He also reflects on coming into himself as a man, challenging internalised beliefs about masculinity and harm, and choosing to stay “soft hearted in a world that does so much to make sure we don’t retain that.” For anyone who’s felt dismissed by professionals, questioned their own symptoms, or lived small out of fear, this conversation offers a raw look at what happens when you stop handing your power away and start trusting your own body and heart.

What might change for you if you stopped assuming everyone else knows better than you do?