I Lost My Mother at 17 and Then I Lost My Way...

What happens when the people meant to protect you become the ones you have to run from?

In this raw and deeply personal episode of the Rollercoaster Podcast, I sit down with Willie Wolfgramm to uncover a story of survival that most people wouldn’t make it out of. Willie takes us inside the darkest corners of his past: being thrown down stairs by a drunken stepfather, being chased through a field by a truck, and the crushing weight of a culture that told him showing emotion was a fatal weakness.

We dive deep into the day he lost his mother to cancer at 17 and the decade-long spiral into addiction and homelessness that followed. This conversation is about childhood abuse, grief, the cycle of trauma, and the miracle of finding a path forward when you’ve hit absolute rock bottom.

If you’ve ever felt like you weren’t enough, Willie’s transformation is your wake-up call.

Watch now and share this with someone who needs to feel less alone.

Key Moments:

0:00 I Watched Him Beat My Mother

4:05 The Beliefs I Had to Unlearn

6:40 My Earliest Memory of Abuse

9:04 Running Away to Survive Another Day

11:08 Chased Down by a Truck in a Field

13:59 Contemplating the Road to End the Pain

18:51 Breaking the Cycle with My Own Kids

21:29 How Childhood Trauma Shows Up in Marriage

24:58 Meeting Wayne: What a Real Man Looks Like

28:45 Moving in While My Mom Fought Stage 4 Cancer

32:36 Your Mom Passed Away This Morning

34:54 Walking into a House That Felt Cold

38:09 Just Keep Moving. Don't Show Emotion.

42:49 The Spiral into Drugs and Alcohol

46:03 Finally Loving the Man in the Mirror

Guest Info:

IG: @willie.wolfgramm (https://www.instagram.com/willie.wolfgramm/)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willie-wolfgramm-a95127a4