On A Good Day is the podcast delving into brain injury and its impact on all involved. Hosted by Elizabeth Callaghan and Julia Ajayi, our lives changed forever after our husbands suffered a brain injury. It also had a ripple effect on others in our wider family and community.
We’ll be sharing our experiences to help others feel more connected, get inspiring stories from people affected by brain injury and learn more about the condition from our specialist guests.
Expect honest conversations about what goes on behind closed doors: the challenges and triumphs, the good days and the not so good days.
Come join us as we aim to strengthen the communities of people impacted by brain injury and empower others in a similar situation to help them feel less alone and better equipped to take on any challenges - so we can all have more of the good days.
#51 Living with Aphasia: What is aphasia, does it improve? - with Paul & Elizabeth Callaghan and Julia and Hector Ajayi
"I feel embarrassed." That is how stroke survivor Paul Callaghan describes having aphasia, a communication disorder with impairs speech, writing and understanding both spoken and written language. Aphasia is very common after having a stroke, brain tumour or traumatic brain injury.
In this episode, Julia and Elizabeth sit down with their husbands Hector and Paul to talk about how aphasia impacts their everyday lives.
The two men have very different forms of the communication disorder. Paul has 'fluent aphasia': he can talk but not all of it makes sense. He often gets words mixed up and can misunderstand instructions , including the written word.
Hector has 'non-fluent' aphasia: he struggles to find words to express himself and speaks in short sentences although can understand what other's say.
During this conversation, Paul and Hector give a sense of how their lives have been impacted by aphasia, including relationships with those around them while Elizabeth and Julia reflect on the challenges it has on them.
Paul talks about how his aphasia has improved hugely since his stroke and there has even been some good gains within the past six months.
If you enjoyed this episode, listen to our conversation with Professor Leff - Strengthening recovery from aphasia.
And 'How to improve communication after stroke with speech and language therapist Bindi Patel'
On A Good Day
Thank you for listening to On A Good Day! Please go back and catch up on any missed episodes. For a full recap of Elizabeth and Julia's stories, listen to episode #1: How Brain Injury Came Into Our Lives - And Changed Them Forever.
Please share this podcast with others it will benefit and subscribe, rate and review to help make it more visible! We'd be so grateful!
Connect with Us
On Instagram @onagood.day and X @onagood_day
And you can join our Facebook community too!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
19 Mar 2026
#50 Pulling Through after Brain Injury - with Author Catherine Jessop
What's it like to live with someone who has a memory of just ten minutes?
This is the reality for author Catherine Jessop whose husband, Alan, was left with a brain injury after contracting encephalitis.
In this episode, she reveals to Elizabeth and Julia the circumstances around Alan's brain injury and how they coped as a family in the early days, navigating hospital life during his year-long hospital stay documented in her book Pulling Through.
She talks about the realities of being a carer with honesty and humour and how football has helped Alan following his diagnosis.
On A Good Day
Thank you for listening to On A Good Day! Please go back and catch up on any missed episodes. For a full recap of Elizabeth and Julia's stories, listen to episode #1: How Brain Injury Came Into Our Lives - And Changed Them Forever.
Please share this podcast with others it will benefit and subscribe, rate and review to help make it more visible! We'd be so grateful!
Connect with Us
On Instagram @onagood.day and X @onagood_day
And you can join our Facebook community too!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20 Nov 2025
#49 Career Success After Brain Injury - with Melinda Taylor
Suffering a brain injury shortly after giving birth to twin boys while living in Nigeria rocked Melinda Taylor's world and that of her family but through the support of her husband and local community she gradually recovered and went on to build a hugely successful career.
In this episode, Melinda tells Elizabeth and Julia what she remembers from the time shortly after a routine operation went wrong and put her on a different life trajectory, 25 years ago.
She discusses her recovery, bringing up her children whilst very ill in hospital as well as the issues she had with her speech. Plus, how a mentor breathed belief into her, initiating her to have a a hugely successful, global career in education improvement around the world, latterly working with the American department USAID.
Melinda talks about the support she had from her husband John over the years, how she was reluctant to reveal her brain injury to work colleagues and how she is adapting and living life now she has taken a break from working.
On A Good Day
Thank you for listening to On A Good Day! Please go back and catch up on any missed episodes. For a full recap of Elizabeth and Julia's stories, listen to episode #1: How Brain Injury Came Into Our Lives - And Changed Them Forever.
Please share this podcast with others it will benefit and subscribe, rate and review to help make it more visible! We'd be so grateful!
Connect with Us
On Instagram @onagood.day and X @onagood_day
And you can join our Facebook community too!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
14 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 24 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
17
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
77
Contact On A Good Day
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of On A Good Day?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
