“I began experiencing crippling panic attacks. I started drinking heavily. I had fallen into a deep depression. I didn’t have any coping skills, and ended up turning to food.”
‘My mother committed suicide the summer before I turned fifteen. The pain was too much to face, so I tried burying it.’
‘I didn’t have a job or a house. My son was put in foster care. I lost everything because of alcohol.’: Father beats addiction after hitting ‘rock bottom,’ celebrates 3 years of sobriety
“I relapsed and spiraled downhill very fast. I stopped going to my drug and alcohol counselor. I started cancelling visits with my son because I was ‘sick’. I felt so hopeless and unworthy as a parent and human being. Then, my case manager showed up and reminded me I was in it for my son. I literally broke down and cried. I told her to leave, and she refused. ‘I will be with you for anything you need.’ She reassured me I had the potential to do this.”
I Suffered 7 Years Of Infertility, Then I Had Quadruplets
“To think we thought we could never have children – and now we are outnumbered by five, is crazy. Even more miraculous still is that doctors advised us to terminate the pregnancy.”
‘I would have to carry my baby girl until she passed away in the womb. Our world stood still.’
“Our journey has been the absolute hardest we will ever endure. Not one single day goes by where she is not on my mind.”
‘I’m going to see my friend, Harold.’ A stranger. I look back, and I see our garbage man on his knees next to my father.’: Garbage man comforts old man with Alzheimer’s
“My father saw me crying the night before. I’m typically a very upbeat person but I was having a ‘feel sorry for myself’ moment. As I sat on the porch, I heard the garbage truck in the distance, and my father walking down the driveway. ‘I would like a moment with Harold so we can pray for you.’ Our garbage man, a stranger, was on his knees praying with my father for me as I was ugly crying. This disease can never stop my father’s love.”
‘I couldn’t do it anymore. I didn’t want to die. My son needed me.’ Single mom ‘didn’t choose to be an alcoholic’
“One glass of wine after work turned into three. Then turned into taking shots of vodka before work, going to get vodka on my lunch break, and driving home at night to have more alcohol.”
‘I was on drugs, depressed, and close to a divorce. I had gone a month without bathing or brushing my hair’: Pill addicted mom overcomes personal demons to care for autistic son
“I started taking up to 30 Lortabs a day. Yes, 30. I was hooked on pills, and I was going to the methadone clinic every day. I hated it. I was a slave.”
‘As we entered our street, the driver said, ‘Which house is it? Oh…never mind, you’ve got quite a crowd waiting.’: Parents overwhelmed by homecoming surprise after newborn daughter spends 195 days in the hospital
“I looked out the ambulance window and started bawling as I saw the crowd so excitedly yelling for Ellie. I couldn’t help but think about heaven, and how I could taste a small glimpse of what it will be like.”
I Got Asked My Due Date When I Wasn’t Pregnant, And I’m OK With That
“It happened. I got asked the three words every woman dreads when she is not pregnant.”
After Trying To Conceive For 18 Years, My Co-Workers Adopted My Baby
“I went to work after hearing the baby’s heartbeat and told my coworkers. I then took one coworker (male) aside and asked him if he and his wife were looking to adopt. I knew they had been trying to have kids for 18 years.”