A tragic twist of fate brought David McClain and Jamal Jones together. Now, they are turning their grief into a safe space where men can have candid conversations about emotional recovery through their podcast “Getting Back Up: Finding Life after Death.”

The idea began during a children’s play date.

“Jamal’s daughter, she had a birthday party — they had just moved back from Austin, Texas, to our area in Maplewood, New Jersey,” McClain told Scripps News. “And it was a sense of, ‘okay, let’s have a birthday party. Let’s invite people. Can we fill this out?’”

Jones recalled how the connection unfolded.

“Then my daughter, she invited a bunch of friends and thankfully she was making friends in this new town,” Jones said. “And she said, ‘Hey, by the way dad, you’ve got to meet my friend Mila

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