Advertise on podcast: On Hold

The act of waiting turned Dr. Nick Makoha into a poet. While he waits, he fills these moments of anticipation with his imagination. And from his imagination comes his latest poetry collection, ‘The New Carthaginians’ which has been nominated for the 2025 T.S Eliot Prize.  In this episode, we hear how Nick sees himself as a time traveller and writes love poems that seek to pause time.  Please be aware, there are mentions of police brutality, systemic racism, and the murder of George Floyd. Take care while you’re listening.   A Storied Podcasts production.   Producer and Presenter: Katy Davis Music: Sophie Parkes and Dan Byrne Engineering and Mix: Gaëtan Harris

A few years ago, Jennifer was waiting for a call. A call from her hospital that would save her life, because her lungs were failing and she was in desperate need of a lung transplant. In this final instalment of Jennifer's story, she shares how her life became intertwined with that of her donor's in ways she could never have imagined. Because her donor not only gifted her new life, but led her to someone she'd waited a very long time meet.  A Storied Podcasts production.   Producer and Presenter: Katy Davis Music: Sophie Parkes  Engineering and Mix: Gaëtan Harris

A few years ago, Jennifer was waiting for a call. A call from her hospital that would save her life, because her lungs were failing and she was in desperate need of a lung transplant. Over the next two episodes, Jennifer shares not only her experiences of waiting, hoping, praying for new lungs, but a story of how her life became intertwined with that of her donor's in ways she could never have imagined. Because her donor not only gifted her new life, but led her to new love. A Storied Podcasts production.  Producer and Presenter: Katy Davis Music: Sophie Parkes  Engineering and Mix: Gaëtan Harris

Dr. Matt Morgan tends to meet people on the worst day of their lives. As a Consultant in intensive care medicine, he tries to bring people back from the brink between life and death to live another day. What happens in this transitional period? What do these people see, sense, remember? What can those who’ve experienced this teach us? Dr. Matt thinks these are the people we should be listening to, not tech billionaires or business gurus.   In this episode, you’ll hear how new technology enables a donated heart to continue to beat its intrinsic rhythm in a plastic box while waiting to be transferred to its new body; how one man’s heart stopped beating for nine hours after being buried in a snowstorm, and then started to beat again; and what someone remembers after being struck by lightning, a hair’s breadth from death.  Dr Matt has written a book called ‘ A Second Act: What Nearly Dying Teaches Us About Really Living.' Producer and Presenter: Katy Davis Music: Sophie Parkes  Engineering and Mix: Gaëtan Harris

In the previous episode, we met Ro: fast talking, bubbly, fitness fan from New Jersey who'd fallen in love with a man called Adam. But the slight hitch was that Adam was serving  a 213 year prison sentence for multiple robberies he'd committed as a young adult. In this episode, we meet Adam and hear what it's like trying to live life inside a 213 year prison sentence. Will Adam ever be released? Will Ro and Adam get to be together outside of the prison walls? Or will the waiting become too much for them both? Follow @storiedpodcasts on Instagram for upcoming episode previews and more.  Producer and Presenter: Katy Davis Music: Sophie Parkes  Engineering and Mix: Gaëtan Harris

Ro is a former ‘Miss Fitness New Jersey’ winner. She’s young, successful and a self-proclaimed ‘bad ass barbie’. But when Ro receives an unexpected email from a man in prison serving a life sentence, her whole world is shaken and Ro starts serving her own sentence on the outside.  To support the team making On Hold, head to: buymeacoffee.com/storiedpodcasts  Producer and Presenter: Katy Davis Music: Sophie Parkes  Engineering and Mix: Gaëtan Harris

Personal stories of waiting, anticipation and delayed gratification, coming soon from Storied Podcasts...