25 | Unfortunate Brain News
Alive Again14 Okt 2025

25 | Unfortunate Brain News

What happens when the part of you that defines your identity begins to fail?

Dana Swanson was a rising creative force—an award-winning writer-producer at Adult Swim, a voice actor, a musical performer, and a self-proclaimed comedy nerd on the brink of big things. But in 2012, her world unraveled when she began to lose control of her speech. What started as a stuttered sentence became a devastating diagnosis: a rare brain tumor—neuronal neoplasm—lodged in a precarious part of her brain.

In this episode of Alive Again, Dana recounts the surreal journey from slurred words to a high-risk, eight-hour brain surgery that would change her life forever. With humor, vulnerability, and crystal clarity, she explores the collapse of identity, the death of an old self, and the painful but profound process of learning to live—and speak—again.

But Dana’s story doesn’t end in silence. It becomes a story of spiritual awakening, intuition, chosen purpose, and using her voice to help others connect to their own. From losing her father at 14 to channeling messages from the other side, Dana opens up about survivor’s guilt, intuitive healing, and embracing the power of reinvention. She reminds us that we all have “battle scars,” and that the ability to evolve—again and again—is the truest sign of being alive.

Cover Art: Daniel Garcia @Superduperfi

Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky* If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story. Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episoder(47)

45 | Overtime: A Conversation With Dr. David Fajgenbaum

45 | Overtime: A Conversation With Dr. David Fajgenbaum

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3 Mar 1h 11min

44 | Fourteen Bullets

44 | Fourteen Bullets

On May 5, 1994, South Australian police officer Derrick McManus was shot 14 times in under five seconds and left bleeding on the ground for nearly three hours while a 40-hour siege raged around him. I...

24 Feb 1h 2min

43 | Rip

43 | Rip

Zoe Cooper grew up around parachutes—her parents were skydivers—and by her eighth jump she felt like a pro. Then the parachute ripped. Spinning low, she and her instructor had to cut away and free-fal...

17 Feb 56min

42 | Extraordinary Awakening: A Conversation with Filmmaker Jonas Elrod

42 | Extraordinary Awakening: A Conversation with Filmmaker Jonas Elrod

Filmmaker Jonas Elrod never set out to become a spiritual seeker. While making a documentary in San Francisco, his life was suddenly upended: lights flickered, voices appeared, and a portal opened in ...

10 Feb 1h 29min

41 | Angel Falls

41 | Angel Falls

At 26, Taylor Maxson was searching for purpose while working with at-risk youth in Kentucky. After months of exhaustion and stress, he and two friends set out on the Cumberland River for what was mean...

3 Feb 37min

40 | The Bondage of Self

40 | The Bondage of Self

In this unforgettable episode of Alive Again, Charlie Collins shares the moment that changed everything: when he was electrocuted by 12,500 volts on top of a moving train in New York. Legally blind si...

27 Jan 39min

39 | Maybe It Saved My Life

39 | Maybe It Saved My Life

On a 110° Grand Canyon trek rerouted by wildfire, Drew Seibert collapsed alone—hallucinating a friend, cooling in a cave, and realizing he might die there. He didn’t. A river guide’s sat phone summone...

20 Jan 49min

38 | Play The Tape Through

38 | Play The Tape Through

At UC Santa Cruz, Brooke Knisley fell more than twenty feet from a redwood while drinking and spent ten days in a coma. What followed was the long, messy work of living with a traumatic brain injury: ...

13 Jan 42min

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