“After years of infertility, we walked into the delivery room and saw our son sleeping in his little crib. The joy I felt overshadowed all the despair. I cannot describe it; I felt like my heart was going to explode and I just cried. I was finally a mother.”
“There are so many conditions out there and it’s impossible to know how to respond to them all, but patience, kindness, compassion, and a belief in your patient is a good place to start.”
“With each new test result, my parents would sigh, and I could feel the hope leaving their bodies with each of these breaths. I saw them cry, almost daily, until it seemed their tears had run dry. And I think it’s only then it really sank in… they had given up hope.”
“My dad had a massive heart attack. I remember thinking I may never get to meet this man, and if I didn’t in this lifetime, I didn’t think I’d ever truly be OK. I packed a few things and jumped in the car.”
“I later learned this is one of the most painful conditions known to man. People often ask me how I lived with it for so many years.”
“They couldn’t find Luke’s heartbeat for several minutes. I started to go in and out of consciousness. Before they could even put the partition up, they had begun a crash vertical C-section.”
“As much as I tried not to let marriage and motherhood consume me, they did. With each immeasurable compromise, parts of me were lost. It happened slowly, over time, and I didn’t catch this until it was too late. Until I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize who I was.”
“The second we got off the elevator my heart dropped to my feet. I wasn’t ready for what I was about to see. We walked only a few hundred feet but it seemed like miles. I remember the smell of saline and alcohol as if I was there. The beeping and the sounds of the machines working to keep my nephew alive still haunt my dreams.”
“In April of 2015, I was diagnosed, and it was the day my life truly began. Everything fell into place, and I finally had the validation I needed to feel safe and comfortable in my own skin.”
“I completely fell in love with the gym and how it made me feel like I had control and power over something for the first time in my life. I was addicted to getting better physically and mentally.”
