In this conversation, Cheryl reflects on marriage, motherhood, and the many ways love reveals itself over time.

Much of this chapter centers on her relationship with her husband, Charlie — a love story built not on grand declarations, but on humor, loyalty, and steadiness. Cheryl recalls the early days of their courtship with vivid detail: meeting halfway between Dallas and Wichita Falls for hamburgers, listening to Frank Sinatra and jazz records, and watching Charlie pursue her with a gentleness and intentionality that felt increasingly rare. She also reflects on what a gift it was to witness the kind of father he already was before they began building a family together.

The conversation then turns toward motherhood, a word Cheryl describes simply as “miracle.” She speaks with awe about pregnancy, childbirth, nursing, and raising five children, while also reflecting honestly on heartbreak, blended family dynamics, long-distance parenting, and the helplessness every parent eventually feels when watching a child suffer. 

Cheryl’s unmistakable sense of humor and infectious laugh are woven throughout the conversation as she shares stories about dressing mishaps during cancer treatment, cowboy matchmaking schemes at the rodeo, Charlie learning sports terminology, and the Prothro family's love of movie quotes. 

More than anything, this conversation is about what endures: faith, tenderness, resilience, honesty, and the daily choice to keep loving one another through every season of life.

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Recorded on February 23, 2026 in Azle, Texas. 
At the time of this conversation, interviewer Ashley Adamson Coakley was navigating the recent loss of a close family member in the 2026 Tahoe avalanche.

In this conversation, Cheryl reflects on the early experiences, relationships, and moments of faith that shaped the way she sees the world.

What comes through most clearly is a deep and steady trust in God. Cheryl speaks about her daily rhythms: waking early, watching the sunrise, and beginning each day with gratitude - not as practices formed in response to hardship, but as an extension of a belief system built over time. Even as she acknowledges the reality of her glioblastoma diagnosis in April of 2025, her posture remains consistent: she is grateful to be here, and she knows she is being held.

She traces that perspective back to her childhood in Wichita Falls, Texas. Raised in a close-knit family, Cheryl describes a home shaped by both resilience and intention - particularly through her mother, who lost the use of one arm to polio yet raised three children without allowing it to define her. 

At the center of her story is a moment she identifies as a turning point in her faith. At 12 years old, she prayed that a girl named Leah Malouf would be the one chosen to stand behind her in a ceremony at summer camp. When that unfolded, the moment became a lasting reference point for her understanding of God’s presence.

Her reflections reveal a deep faith formed early, tested over time, and lived out with a quiet confidence that, in every season, God is ever-present and faithful.

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Recorded on February 23, 2026 in Azle, Texas. Interview conducted by Ashley Adamson Coakley.

What comes through most clearly is not fear, but devotion. Charlie speaks about the quiet daily work of caregiving, the challenge of living without a roadmap, and the slow, ongoing process of learning to surrender control. A lifelong planner, he finds himself in a season that asks something entirely different of him: presence, patience, and trust.

He shares the moment he first sensed something was different - an Easter Sunday that felt unlike any other - and the shock of Cheryl’s diagnosis soon after. From there, the conversation moves between the practical and the deeply personal: how their family has navigated this together, how his faith is being reshaped, and how Cheryl’s unwavering trust in God has become both an anchor and an invitation.

There are also glimpses of the life they’ve built: the early days of their relationship, the joy of raising children, and the seasons that defined Cheryl as a mother. Even in the hardest moments, there is a throughline of gratitude, humor, and awe at the way she continues to live each day.

More than anything, this is a reflection on love, showing up, and learning day by day what it means to let go and hold on at the same time.

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Recorded on February 23, 2026 in Azle, Texas. Interview conducted by Ashley Adamson Coakley.

It’s the kind of beginning where nothing goes exactly right -- and somehow, everything does.