The latest from the Foundation

Early Answers Foundation’s Melissa Mae Carlton has been invited to Mamamia’s Sydney offices for a feature interview about the Foundation and its work in September 2026 (date TBC). The conversation is also being considered for Mamamia’s flagship daily news podcast, The Quicky.

The invitation represents a significant opportunity to introduce Early Answers Foundation to a large national audience. In May 2026, The Quicky ranked 18th in Australia’s official monthly Podcast Ranker, reaching 259,828 listeners and generating 762,376 downloads across 42 episodes.

Mamia’s broader network reports reaching 9.7 million Australians each month across podcasts, articles, newsletters, social media and video. Appearing through its news platforms could substantially increase awareness of the Foundation and bring its work to new families, supporters and potential partners across Australia.

Southern California University's Genetic Counseling program has announced Early Answers Foundation co-founder Melissa Carlton as a speaker at its 2nd Annual Virtual Integrative Health Conference, presenting "Stories in the Clinical Space" on September 18, 2026.

The presentation explores Melissa's family's experience following the unexpected deaths of Abigail and Molly and their prolonged search for answers. It addresses the absence of genetic counseling during the initial investigation process, how this affected the family's understanding and support, and the challenges of navigating the diagnostic journey without access to that resource.

Through sharing her family's eventual diagnosis of PPA2 deficiency following SUDC-supported genetic testing, Melissa will highlight practical implications for clinicians — including opportunities to improve awareness, communication, and referral pathways so families are informed about genetic counseling earlier in the investigative process.

In a powerful new feature from American Heart Association News, Early Answers Foundation co-founder Melissa Carlton shares her family's experience of losing daughters Abi and Molly to PPA2 deficiency — a rare genetic condition discovered only after both girls had died.

Their story highlights the urgent need for earlier genetic testing and the answers that could help protect other children and families.

Early Answers Foundation co-founder Melissa Carlton will travel to Sydney from September 4–10, 2026, to participate in a Marie Claire Australia podcast and campaign focused on Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) and PPA2 deficiency.

For Melissa, the trip is also an opportunity to support Danielle, an Australian mother whose experience closely mirrors her own. Melissa lost her nine-year-old daughter, Abigail, in 2024 and her five-year-old daughter, Molly, on Christmas Day 2025. Testing later revealed that both girls had PPA2 deficiency, an ultra-rare metabolic condition that can cause sudden cardiac death.

Through the rare-disease community, Melissa connected with Danielle — one of the few other mothers who understands the unimaginable experience of losing two children to the same condition. Although their stories are remarkably similar, the responses they have received have been very different.

In Canada, Melissa and her family have received support from researchers, advocates, government representatives, and their local MLA. Work is now underway to bring proposed legislation focused on earlier answers and genetic testing before the British Columbia legislature.

Danielle has worked tirelessly to raise awareness in Australia, including sharing her family's story with the TODAY show, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Guardian. Despite this national exposure, she has struggled to gain meaningful traction with decision-makers.

Melissa hopes her visit — and the attention created by the Marie Claire Australia podcast and campaign — will help strengthen Danielle's advocacy and build greater momentum for change.

"Families shouldn't have to wait for another tragedy before the right questions are asked," Melissa says.

The Early Answers Foundation grew directly from the stories of Abigail and Molly. Today, the foundation is building a global alliance committed to making responsible genetic and genomic testing available earlier — beginning at birth and prioritizing children whose health may depend on it.

By connecting advocacy efforts in Canada and Australia, Melissa's visit will help demonstrate that the need for earlier answers extends beyond any one family, rare condition, or country. It is a global challenge that calls for a coordinated global response.

The foundation's belief is simple: families should have access to the best available knowledge at the earliest responsible moment — not only after a crisis or, tragically, a second loss.

Early Answers Foundation co-founder Melissa Carlton and Special Board Advisor Akasha Balkman, LICSW, have been invited to conduct a workshop at the 2026 SUDC Foundation Community Retreat.

Taking place September 17–20 at the Radisson Blu Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, the annual retreat brings together families affected by the sudden, unexpected, or unexplained death of a child. It provides a compassionate environment in which families can restore, reconnect, remember, and renew.

Melissa and Akasha will bring two deeply complementary perspectives to their workshop. Melissa offers the lived experience of a bereaved mother, having lost her daughters Abigail and Molly, together with her growing work as a rare-disease advocate. Akasha is a psychotherapist, Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, and palliative care specialist with extensive experience supporting children and families through grief, bereavement, serious illness, and medical trauma.

Together, they will create a thoughtful and supportive space grounded in compassion, connection, and an understanding of the many ways families experience and carry grief.

The retreat will also feature specialized activities for parents, grandparents, siblings, and extended family members; grief-focused programming; opportunities for storytelling and remembrance; and a keynote presentation on the latest SUDC research by genomic medicine leader Dr. Robert L. Nussbaum.

Melissa and Akasha's invitation reflects Early Answers Foundation's commitment to supporting families while advocating for the research and earlier genetic answers that could help prevent future tragedies.

The Early Answers Foundation is proud to celebrate Melissa and Akasha's launch of Hello Angel, a grief-support app created to help people preserve memories, express difficult emotions, and feel connected to the people they have lost.

Hello Angel began with a compassionate belief: grief is not a problem to be solved or a process that follows a fixed timeline. It is a deeply personal experience that deserves patience, understanding, and accessible support.

A Safe Place for the Words Left Unsaid

At the heart of Hello Angel is the ability to write and "send" messages to a loved one who has died. The experience feels familiar — more like texting than formal journaling — which can make it easier to express a memory, a feeling, or something that was left unsaid.

For someone living with grief, even beginning to write can feel overwhelming. Hello Angel offers more than 800 guided prompts designed to help users take that first step. The prompts explore memories, gratitude, guilt, regret, connection, hope, holidays, and other experiences that can accompany loss.

Instead of asking someone to explain everything they are feeling at once, the app creates opportunities to reflect on one thought or memory at a time.

Keeping Memories and Connections Close

Hello Angel is designed around the idea that love does not end when a life does. Healing can include finding new and meaningful ways to maintain a connection with someone who is no longer physically present.

Users can preserve photographs, messages, stories, and voice recordings in a personal space dedicated to their loved one. Audio tools can also help families save meaningful clips from existing videos, allowing them to hear a familiar voice again.

The app extends this sense of connection to trusted family members and friends. Community-sharing features, memorial tools, and reminders of important dates can help people support one another through birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and other emotionally difficult moments.

Support for the Heaviest Moments

Grief can affect the mind and body in unexpected ways. Hello Angel includes guided meditation, grounding exercises, and calming tools that users can turn to when emotions feel especially intense.

These tools are not intended to replace counselling, medical care, or crisis support. Instead, they offer an approachable source of reflection and comfort that people can access privately and at their own pace.

The app respects the fact that every person grieves differently. There is no expectation to complete a program, reach a particular stage, or "move on." Users decide when to engage, what to share, and which tools feel right for them.

The Mission Behind Hello Angel

Hello Angel's mission is to make grief feel less lonely.

Loss can leave people surrounded by love but unsure how to ask for help — or worried that others expect them to be feeling better. Melissa and Akasha created Hello Angel to offer a gentle place where grief can be acknowledged rather than hidden and where continuing to love and remember someone is treated as a natural part of healing.

The app seeks to lower the barriers that often prevent people from expressing grief. By bringing together familiar communication, guided reflection, memory preservation, calming exercises, and trusted social connection, Hello Angel helps users take small, manageable steps through an experience that can otherwise feel impossible to navigate.

Its guiding message is simple but powerful: you do not have to grieve alone, and you do not have to leave your connection behind.

Part of the Early Answers Foundation

Hello Angel reflects the values at the heart of the Early Answers Foundation: listening to real human needs, responding with compassion, and developing practical ideas that can improve people's lives.

As part of the Foundation, Melissa and Akasha are helping expand the ways we support individuals and families during vulnerable moments. Their work demonstrates how personal understanding, thoughtful technology, and a clear social mission can come together to create something meaningful.

Please join us in congratulating Melissa and Akasha on the launch of Hello Angel and in welcoming this important initiative to the Early Answers Foundation family.

Hello Angel: Because love doesn't end where a life does.