Our Journey - Journey of a Lifetime (JOL)

Daphne Robinson, LAS – Founder, President & CEO

Daphne left a promising career in corporate America in March of 2007 to serve full-time in the nonprofit sector. After beginning as a volunteer with Atlanta Pregnancy Resource Center, Inc (APRC), Daphne quickly advanced within the organization and eventually became the Executive Director in 2013 and served in that capacity until 2017. She was the Founding Executive Director of Atlanta Morning Center (ATLMC), a ministry launched out of love for mothers and their newborns and Daphne’s desire to contribute to healthy pregnancies as well as life-affirming birth outcomes for both mothers and their babies. She is also the Founder and CEO of Journey of a Lifetime (JOL), which equips and empowers mothers and families to advocate for the life and health of their child when facing a life-limiting or other adverse pregnancy diagnosis. JOL launched on 1 July 2025.

Daphne experienced years of infertility, high-risk pregnancy, and pregnancy loss. She has had eleven miscarriages (7 after beginning prenatal care), through which the Lord claimed those babies for Himself. He allowed her to give birth to a healthy, but albeit premature and low birth weight, daughter in April 1995 at 32 ³/₇ weeks and 2 lbs. 15.9 oz. Though serving in fulltime leadership positions with various nonprofit organizations, Daphne was led to homeschool DeidreHannah throughout her high school years. Daphne’s journey has been shared in various publications: Pregnancy Help Groups Step Up to Serve Parents with Prenatal Diagnosis written by Petra Wallenmeyer of Pregnancy Help News and Daphne Nicely – a Woman with a Vision and Passion written by Dr. Gerald Harris and featured in the nation’s oldest and longest continuously published religious newspaper, The Christian Index in January 2019. The Struggle for and Joys of Motherhood written by Daphne has been used as a small group Bible study on the faithfulness of God and walking in faith during difficult times… particularly, but not limited to, issues related to infertility, pregnancy loss, high risk pregnancy, pregnancy diagnosis, fragile infants, and motherhood.

Nominated and commissioned by Evangelist Alveda King as an inaugural She Leads Georgia Honoree for servant leadership in December 2023, in June 2023, Daphne and Team ATLMC were recognized as Pro-Life Heroes at the inaugural National Celebrate Life Day Awards Dinner. She received the Trailblazer Award from the Douglass Leadership Institute in February 2022 and was a recipient of the Warrior for Life medal awarded by The Restoration Project in January 2019. Daphne was also recognized by Atlanta Tribune: The Magazine as a 2015 Superwoman for her contributions and service to the community.

On Valentine’s Day 2023, Daphne became the wife of Dr. Haywood Robinson. Dr. and Mrs. Robinson work side by side in the field of perinatal palliative care with Dr. Robinson serving as the Director of Continuum of Care for Journey of a Lifetime (JOL). These pro-life warriors have been given the moniker “The Dynamic Duo” and are in high demand – always on the move – speaking across the nation and around the globe, they often joke that they live at the airport.

Daphne has a love for languages and seeks opportunities to learn about and experience other cultures. She enjoys ornamental and edible gardening, creating and maintaining wild bird and pollinator sanctuaries and birding. A former Junior Olympian, Daphne has been a certified Zumba instructor since July 2007.

Dr. Haywood J. Robinson, MD, LAS – Director of Continuum of Care

Dr. Robinson serves as the Director of Continuum of Care for Journey of a Lifetime (JOL) and credits his now wife, the former Daphne Harris Nicely, with opening his eyes to trauma informed care and the need for perinatal palliative care. In addition to JOL, Dr. and Mrs. Robinson collaborate in family, life, pregnancy care ministries and medical missions across the globe. However, it wasn’t always this way…

While receiving specialty training in Family Medicine at Martin Luther King/Charles R. Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, Dr. Haywood Robinson met Dr. Noreen Johnson, who was completing her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Johnson was one of many who taught him the abortion procedure. Shortly thereafter, the couple became romantically involved and began moonlighting together as abortionists in Southern California. In 1981, after completion of their respective residency programs, the couple married and moved to Texas to open a joint private practice. Dr. Robinson retired from private practice in 2019, and Dr. Johnson passed away in August 2021 as a result of complications from Covid.

Since his salvation in 1986, pro-life work has been not only a passion, but a calling for Dr. Robinson. As a former abortionist, he understands the realities of abortion and demonstrates heroic compassion for both mother and child. The Scalpel and the Soul: Our Radical Transformation as Husband and Wife Abortion Doctors, the book coauthored by Drs. Robinson and Johnson, chronicles his journey and was released in June 2023. Additionally, he has served with numerous pro-life organizations and in various roles with 40 Days for Life where he is currently its Director of Medical Affairs and Education.

Dr. Robinson has found his true love and life partner in Daphne. Collectively, the Robinsons have 4 living children, 13 children that have preceded them in death, 5 bonus children, 7 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild. They reside in East Central Texas and attend Aldersgate Church of the Brazos Valley. Aficionados of music, dancing, travel, the culinary arts, and fine dining Dr. and Mrs. Robinson are ever on a quest to find the best burger and perfect pizza.

An avid sports enthusiast, Dr. Robinson played intercollegiate football, is a former senior sprinter and has completed approximately 60 marathons – 13 of which were Boston Marathons.

Heidi Martin, BSN, RN, LAS – Manager of Perinatal Palliative Care Case Coordination

Manager of Palliative Care Case Coordination, Heidi Martin is a Registered Nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Georgia Baptist College of Nursing of Mercer University in 2002. Graduating Magna Cum Laude, she was a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society of Nurses. She began her nursing practice in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston from 2002–2022. With her passion for critically ill infants, she practiced as an RN in the NICU for twenty years. She served on the Clinical Practice Council as Chair for several years, maintained her Neonatal PICC line certification for over half of that time, and actively functioned as Charge Nurse for the 45-bed unit.

After departing from CHOA, Heidi was recruited by Daphne to join the team of Atlanta Morning Center (ATLMC). Heidi’s experience working with families in the NICU—many of whom had received a prenatal diagnosis—along with her experience caring for numerous families experiencing postnatal loss and hospice in the NICU, made her the ideal candidate for ATLMC’s novel perinatal palliative case coordination program. In the summer of 2022, Heidi participated in Parent Care Coordinator (PCC) training through Be Not Afraid (BNA). The ongoing training with BNA, as well as her nursing skills and experience, enabled her to compassionately minister to families that had received a life-limiting or other adverse perinatal diagnosis and to advance God’s Kingdom as a PCC.

Heidi flourished in her role with ATLMC and was invited to be a presenter at the Heartbeat International annual conference in 2024 speaking on Prenatal Diagnosis and NICU Trauma. She was also invited to speak for the Pregnancy Help Podcast in 2024, where she shared what her role is as a Parent Care Coordinator to families receiving a life-limiting diagnosis. In 2025, she had the privilege of being interviewed by WORLD magazine, speaking into the difference between Perinatal Palliative Care and Perinatal Hospice. In May of 2025, she earned the designation of Life Affirming Specialist (LAS). Most recently in August 2025, Heidi was invited onto the Pregnancy Help Podcast again, alongside Neonatologist Dr. Robin Pierucci and a parent previously served by BNA, to discuss Prenatal Diagnosis and Trauma Informed Care. Heidi served faithfully in the capacity of a PCC with ATLMC until its closure in June 2025. She is now the Manager of Perinatal Palliative Care Case Coordination with Journey of a Lifetime (JOL).

Heidi has been married to her husband, Travis, for twenty-three years. They have two children: a seventeen-year-old daughter named Sydney and a fourteen-year-old son named Asher. Heidi recently completed her 18-year journey of homeschooling Sydney, who just graduated high school in May 2025. Asher was born with a rare genetic syndrome that resulted in multiple surgeries at birth and throughout his life, as well as his own NICU stay. Heidi’s personal experience with a medically fragile child has shaped her life as a nurse, feeding her desire to minister to and support other families who are also affected by a life-changing diagnosis. In July 2023, Heidi’s journey was featured in an article written by Petra Wallenmeyer of Pregnancy Help News entitled, Pregnancy Help Groups Step Up to Serve Parents with Prenatal Diagnosis.

When not practicing as a nurse, Heidi loves to treasure hunt at antiques and yard sales. With creativity at her core, she enjoys repurposing old finds, cooking and eating fusion meals, baking bread with her sourdough starter, enjoying an espresso and a good donut, growing her vegetable garden, and reading books and magazines on the front porch of her 1898 farmhouse.

*LAS – Life Affirming Specialist

Each member of Team JOL has earned the professional designation of Life Affirming Specialist (LAS), developed specifically for those serving faithfully in the pregnancy help movement by Heartbeat International. The LAS designation indicates that the holder has participated in on-going training on the latest information surrounding pregnancy, abortion, abortion recovery, client programs, sexual integrity and related, life-affirming issues.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,

so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Ephesians 2:10 NLT