“I was told if I was to do a heart transplant, it would only give me 20 years to live. I can’t have that for my son; I want to be able to spend time with him.”
‘Give it time. You’re a first-time mom, be patient.’ When I thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did.’: Teen mom advocates for medically complex son while battling heart problems, ‘Faith never fails’
‘His first two years were spent in and out of hospitals with countless seizures. I was scared every day of losing him.’: Mom raises awareness for son’s rare Sturge-Weber syndrome
“If the old me could look into the future, I’d say don’t give up. He’s a warrior and deserves to live a beautiful life. We hope a cure will be found in his lifetime.”
‘School become unbearable for her. It was as if everything around her intensified tenfold and life was just too much.’: Mom gets candid on daughter’s journey with autism
“I could no longer ask her to get dressed or brush her teeth without an explosive outburst. It was like a switch flicked overnight, and we could no longer just think this was just her quirks.”
‘One day, you’ll find that to-do list is trivial in comparison. You’ll wish you could go back and rock your baby a bit longer.’: Mom of boys with incurable disease shares letter to younger self
“Those moments that may seem ordinary, or even exhausting to you now, will someday stand out in your mind as incredibly precious memories and not at all ordinary.”
To My Son With Autism: I Will Never Stop Trying To Give You All You Deserve
“You have taught me the true meaning of being a father and what love looks like. I strive every day to be even better for you.”
‘The word YES burst from my mouth as tears rolled down my face. I was excited to make her dream come true.’: Woman fulfills promise to teenager and her terminally-ill service dog
“Love comes in many forms, and I couldn’t think of a greater love story.”
‘Like a tsunami we never saw coming, our boys were diagnosed with Duchenne. I didn’t know how to be a ‘regular’ mom anymore.’: Mom shares ‘surrender’ to reality of sons’ rare disease
“Surrender is not about throwing in the towel or giving up the fight against this awful disease. I will advocate, care for, and fight alongside my boys until my last breath – but I refuse to let it steal my joy or my hope.”
The doctor said, ‘No one ever told you about his head circumference? It’s really small.’ My heart sank.’: Mom of baby with microcephaly fights for diagnosis, ‘I wouldn’t trade him for the world’
“I laid him down and I noticed his head was turned all the way to his right and his arms were bent up. He looked almost frozen. I told my husband, ‘Ben just did something weird.’ We had seen many pediatricians and they all told me he was healthy. But I knew something wasn’t right.”
‘I experimented with 9 months of sensory isolation. There was never a moment when the pain was below a 7.’: Man shares story of triumph over chronic pain and illness
“‘You’ve gone enough today.’ I was the ‘sick’ kid who was bullied for wetting my pants. But now, instead of an endless nightmare, I have joy and dreams.”
‘There’s so much I wish others knew. So many incorrect assumptions make life even harder for someone like me.’: Special needs mom clears up biggest misconceptions
“I can see the conversation shift when I walk over. I know you feel awkward talking about taking your kids hiking or going to the park. But there is no need to walk on eggshells around me.”