A Contagious Smile Podcast · Victora Cuore; A Contagious Smile, Who Kicked First, Domestic Violence Survivor, Advocate, Motivational Coach, Special Needs, Abuse Support, Life Skill Classes, Special Needs Social Groups

Holiday Chaos, Hard Truths, Real Love

December 22, 2025·1 hr 13 min

This episode of A Contagious Smile Podcast features hosts Mike and his wife explaining their recent absence due to a severe medical crisis and a sudden job loss. The wife, a medical advocate and amputee, details a defective spinal implant that required replacement surgery, which led to a horrific surgical-site infection. She describes a surgeon making an insensitive comment, asking if her request to dress before a male device rep's arrival was due to her past as a domestic violence survivor. The surgeon later joked she might "need a doctor that's not abusive," which she found deeply unprofessional. Concurrently, Mike was fired via text message from his long-time employer, a company that touted family values, after they denied his FMLA request during this family medical emergency. He recounts being forced to drive unsafe vehicles against OSHA regulations and being sent on a futile two-and-a-half-hour job while his father was hospitalized with a suspected brain bleed. A surprising insight is the wife's immediate advocacy for a distressed restaurant manager they met by chance, despite being in severe pain herself right after a hospital visit. Mike shares that he developed a drinking habit during a previous abusive marriage, illustrating how toxic environments change behavior. The wife reflects on lowering her standards to seek acceptance from family, stating, "You cannot get healthy in an environment that made you sick." Mike reveals a meaningful tattoo he got depicting him kissing his wife's forehead, a gesture mirroring her grandfather's. The hosts announce upcoming guests, including reality TV star Margaret from *Real Housewives of New Jersey* and actor Amir Arison from *The Blacklist*. They also share that John Cusack received the wife's memoir and offered premiere tickets, fueling her hope to eventually host actor James Spader. The tone is raw, conversational, and emotionally charged, blending personal storytelling with pointed critiques of medical and corporate systems. Listeners who appreciate candid discussions about resilience, medical advocacy, and navigating injustice will find this episode compelling. Those sensitive to detailed medical trauma or strong critiques of workplace practices might prefer to skip it.

As heard by us

A funny, messy catch-up that folds surgery, abuse, and escape into one blunt story.

A holiday catch-up opens with a shirt gag, then turns quickly to spinal surgery, a faulty implanted device, and the infection that followed. From there, the episode settles into a hard look at emotional and verbal abuse, the daily pull toward alcohol or other escapes, and the…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Need a brutally honest catch-up that swings from jokes to recovery?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify