Emily Richey is a graduate of Pace University NYC. She has written and edited for multiple online platforms, including Love What Matters. She spends her free time petting stray cats.
‘You can do it. You’re Norah’s mom after all.’ Our future changed. The weight of the day was so heavy.’: Mom honors late daughter with nonprofit, ‘Where there’s grief, there’s hope’
“At night, the hospital halls became so quiet. We made beds out of chairs, cots, and window ledges. Hospital living and doctor offices became our new normal. But every moment was filled with love.”
‘You’re sitting at the computer too often.’ He prescribed a painkiller. Then, I got a call. ’You could die.’: Woman with tethered spinal cord learns to walk again, ‘My scars are badges of honor’
“I woke from surgery unable to feel my leg and in septic shock.”
‘His brother said, ‘I didn’t get to tell him goodbye today.’ All I could see were his little bare legs, dangling.’: Woman loses infant to SIDS, starts foundation in his honor, ‘Love pushes you to go on’
“She said, ‘It’s an emergency. It’s Knox.’ Looking to the back where he was, all I could see were those bare legs. I had no idea how much this decision would replay over in my head and haunt me.”
‘I don’t see any red flags.’ He began screaming and running into walls. There was an 8-month waitlist. I wanted answers.’: Mom fights for son’s autism diagnosis, ‘My strength comes from him’
“I know you’re not supposed to compare, but I had friends with kids around the same age as Logan and seeing them together was eye-opening. ‘He has a mild delay.’ I couldn’t shake the feeling it was something bigger.”
‘I wouldn’t step out of the house in shorts or skirts because of the scars on my legs. ‘Why me?’ I was tired of crying out to God.’: Woman with rare Ollier’s Disease disorder and Scoliosis finds self acceptance, ‘I was handpicked’
“I became so caught up in trying to appear ‘normal’ I began to lose myself. At the end of the day, I felt like I was living a double life. I would often wear long sleeve shirts or jackets to hide my left arm. I wanted people to look beyond the scars and differences.”
‘He’s not going to cry! I can’t do this! HE IS NOT GOING TO CRY.’ I looked down and saw my perfect baby. I never wanted to forget his face.’: Mom of stillborn baby says, ‘I am a mom of four’
“The nurse asked me when the last time I felt the baby kick. I said, ‘2 hours. I’m sure I’m overreacting. We were put in a room at the far end of the ward. I assumed it was so we wouldn’t hear any babies cry, but I later realized it was so no one else would hear us scream and cry in the agony that was to come.”
‘Two generations ago, I would have lived in an institution.’ There’s a buzz in the air. A new day is approaching in the world of disability!’: Wife of man with cerebral palsy becomes disability advocate, ‘Let’s crack this dialogue open together’
“I was the most apprehensive, uneasy person he ever met. Me. The person who went on to marry him, and have kids and a life with him. Very simply put, I got over it. The chair, the speech impediment, all of it. I’m happy I got brave enough to get to know this whole and magnificent human.”
‘DING DING DING.’ His heart rate dropped. All of the tests were negative. He was known as the ‘mystery baby.’: Woman births baby with Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome, ‘Our lives would never be the same’
“The doctor laid him on my chest and instant panic came over my face. He was a shade of blue. I had done this five times before. I knew what a newborn should look like. He began to throw up and for a newborn, it was a lot! Why was this happening?”
‘At 11-years-old, I coded on the table. ‘You’re on your second soul.’: Chronic pain warrior with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome suffers stroke, finds community, ‘It’s about being there for each other’
“My first stroke was at 11 weeks old. By the time I was 4, I had three open-heart surgeries. Once, I made a list of things I have tried over the years for my pain. It was three pages long. You name it, I’ve probably had it.”
‘Her brain doesn’t look normal.’ The odds weren’t in our favor. There was a 1% chance she would live six months.’: Baby born with Semilobar Holoprosencephaly defies the odds, ‘She blows us away’
“The doctor saw a spot on our baby’s brain that didn’t look quite right. Her brain had not completely divided into two complete hemispheres. We went from planning on welcoming a little girl into our family to planning a funeral.”