“I always called my mom on my way home from work, but she wasn’t answering, so for some reason I felt the need to call my brother, Tim. He was at a friend’s house swimming. I heard my nieces and nephews playing in the background. I never thought that would be the last time I’d hear Gabby’s little voice.”
‘The words hit me like a truck, ‘Gabby fell into the pool and she isn’t breathing.’: Aunt urges parents to know pool toys give ‘false feeling’ of safety after niece’s near-fatal swimming accident
‘How am I was supposed to break the news to my children?’ They didn’t have an answer. It was an accident.’: Widow describes ‘surreal, intense’ pain after husband dies from sudden accident
“’I don’t know what to do!’ I was woken up throughout the night by a little girl screaming for her papa. Waking up crying for my Ben. The reality was unbearable. I was staring at a life I didn’t want.”
‘I am so sick and tired, dying would be a blessing.’ This text from my son arrived at 1:39 a.m.’: Mother of addict connects with moms facing same struggle, ‘we make no apologies for navigating the underbelly of hell’
“I left a passionate comment to a post that read, ‘I work in a hospital. I overheard a coworker in the break room say they hate wasting time on these worthless addicts.’ I cried with the mom who shared a photo of a beautiful young woman, the caption reading, ‘My baby was found dead today.’”
‘He broke down. ‘I’m shooting heroin again.’ AGAIN? I never caught on.’: Mom had no idea her baby’s father was hiding heroin addiction from her, ‘We miss you, we’ll never give up on you’
“This blew my whole mind. I’ve dated this man, lived with him, even had a child with him and NEVER knew. I never caught on. I haven’t been able to get ahold of him, I’ve been worried sick. He is currently using and living in his truck. My son runs around screaming, crying for his daddy. If you ever read this A.J. we miss you, we love you, and we will never give up on you.”
Bereaved Mom Shares Harrowing Premature Birth Story
“This is my story, real and raw. I hope it encourages others to share theirs.”
I Nearly Lost My Son To A Peanut Allergy—Here’s What You Need To Know
“I’m sitting here beside my two-year old’s hospital gurney.”
‘You can help someone with depression. How? Pretend they have the flu.’: Woman urges to let those battling mental illness to ‘rest and ride it out’
“The bonus is, it’s not contagious. You wouldn’t expect the person with a really bad flu to get up and do stuff, no way! So, tell them to rest up. Lay out in their pajamas. Surround them with pillows and things that make them happy. You would never tell them to snap out of the flu!”
‘My daughter Penny is not a ‘mistake.’ She is perfection.’: Down syndrome mom explains the difference between ‘inclusion’ and helping special needs individuals ‘belong’
“People often feel awkward asking questions about my daughter. Penny gets sidelined from activities and events because they don’t know how to welcome her. The message of inclusion is, ‘We want you here with us.’ But belonging emerges from a deep desire to not just include the ‘other,’ but to love and be loved.”
‘It’s not hard. Just stop being a jerk. I get praised for being a ‘great husband,’ but that’s nonsense.’: Husband gets super candid about wife’s postpartum body, ‘The soft, pillowy skin around her belly button held my 3 best friends for 18 months’
“I’m literally doing the bare minimum by loving my wife for who she is, ‘imperfections’ and all. Sure, things look and feel slightly different — but in the grand scheme of things, nothing changed. The reasons I fell in love with her had nothing to do with her body.”
‘Pull over.’ My husband was next to us at the light. I made eye contact with him. He followed us.’: Wife ‘relieved’ to come clean about ‘living a lie,’ realizes she’s the one who needed to change in marriage
“I got a message on social media from the guy I had dated and lost my virginity to as a teenager. I hadn’t talked to him in a decade. At first, it started out with us just catching up. I enjoyed the friendship and connection. In the beginning, that’s all it was. It breaks my heart to write these words. Something had to give. Something had to change.”
‘My left shoulder dislocated talking to my mom. She was mortified. ‘AHAA!,’ he said.’: Young woman recalls ‘party tricks’ as joints dislocate after Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome diagnosis
“I woke up with a sore knee. We ignored it… until the pain became unbearable and was spreading. It all happened so fast. I was too overwhelmed to be scared. However, I was confused. We all were. The tricks I used to gross my friends out ended up being a piece of the puzzle. Hyper mobility, one of the most obvious symptoms of EDS.”
‘I screamed, ‘We have guys trapped!’ I crawled out and ran while being burned alive.’: Man describes ‘pain, misery’ after surviving life-threatening burns working as firefighter
“The driver accidentally veered off the road. We crashed into a steep ravine, and were engulfed in flames. I immediately knew, I’d have to run through the fire and get burned. I chose to run. I crawled up the ravine and ran as fast as I could, screaming for my buddies. Sadly, my buddies never made it.”
‘Stop trying.’ He wasn’t coming back. That pale, limp body wasn’t my son. I pounded the wall.’: Mom insists rainbow baby ‘helped fill the void’ after son’s death, ‘she’s my reason to keep going’
“‘Why my son?! Why me?!’ We went home and packed up his clothes, toys. His grandparents held onto everything else. We couldn’t bear to. But we destroyed the Rock ‘n Play he died in. I’ve seen news stories about their recalls. Of course, it makes me wonder if that’s what happened to my son. We will never know. Within weeks of his passing, I was pregnant. Intentionally. Family was concerned. I didn’t care.”
‘Will you be my wife?’ You never emerged from the water to hear my answer. ‘Yes! A million times, yes!’: Man tragically drowns while proposing, ‘please love each other hard, while you can’
“Just days before you died, you said to me, ‘We are so blessed.’ My perfect love, my angel. Yes, we were. In the cruelest twist of fate imaginable, we never got to embrace and celebrate the beginning of the rest of our lives together. I will carry the love we shared with me forever. I will find you and marry you in the next lifetime, and the next, and the next, and the next.”
‘Really? Can I? I’ll be there at 2:30 a.m.’ He seemed surprised. He didn’t expect me to say yes.’: Young woman moves in with man she found on Facebook after chance encounter in McDonald’s, ‘I found a love I never knew existed’
“When I first met him, I was cleaning tables at McDonald’s. He was so sexy and had the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen. And he just HAD to hold them on mine. We parted ways, but later I found him on social media. I essentially moved in that first night.”
‘I hear a gurgling noise. I look and see a tiny toy at the back of my daughter’s throat. It’s not coming out.’: Mom can’t stop wondering, ‘what if?’ after ‘freak accident,’ urges us to ‘please be careful’
“My daughter Maya is 2.5 years old. She has all these little toys she plays with under strict supervision. Somehow, she managed to smuggle one up to bed. I quickly yell to my partner. He’s there in seconds, telling me to call an ambulance. So, I’m screaming words that don’t even make sense down the phone to 911. ‘This must be a dream, this can’t be happening.’ Right at that moment, I thought she was dead.”
‘I was told to ‘man up’ after being thrown into a dumpster. I believed I was an abomination.’: Trans woman believed she’d ‘go to hell’ for transitioning, now feels ‘worthy of happiness’
“’Can you leave? We are having girl chat.’ I left and sat alone in the field. Teachers would laugh when I’d tell them I was being bullied. I cried and prayed to God, ‘Please let me wake up and be a girl.’ This is me. I am a woman.”
‘His mom delivered another baby. She abandoned him at the hospital.’ It was a call we never expected.’: Woman adopts teen, his younger sibling born addicted to drugs, ‘Does this sound crazy? I think it does too’
“‘Have you been notified of that boy’s roommate at the group home?,’ he asked. ‘We have not,’ I replied. ‘Would you be willing to meet him?’ 3 months later, he was moving in with us hours before his first day of high school. We found out I was pregnant by surprise. ‘This is crazy. We can’t do this, right?’ We were going to have 2 babies and a teenager with PTSD. Less than a year ago, we had no kids.”
‘Sweetie, you do that far too often. Stop apologizing for your family.’ Wait.’: Mom shocked by elderly woman’s reassuring kind gesture out in public
“When I’m in public, I’m constantly apologizing for our family. I whisper, ‘Shh, baby. No shouting please.’ But yesterday, a grandmother-type woman stopped me in my tracks.”
‘When’s the baby coming?’ My face turns red. I’m not pregnant. I miscarried back to back and gained 40 pounds in grief weight.’: Woman battling infertility reminds us ‘words have weight’
“I’m in Starbucks. I manage a smile and lie. ‘Soon.’ I rush out the door, no coffee in hand, and cry in my jeep. ‘When are you having kids?’ ‘Have kids already!’ ‘I’m ready to be a grandma. The clock is ticking!’ they say. But when I stillbirth? No questions, words. Just silence. My husband battles silent resent. ‘No baby, no marriage.’ These weren’t the vows I signed up for.”
‘Who’s that in the picture?’ A question that knocks the wind out of me every single time.’: Grieving daughter explains to young son that’s ‘Nana in Heaven,’ promises ‘she’s always there’
“I can’t ever prepare myself for the times my son will find her picture and ask who she is. It’s someone he should know. Once I catch my breath, I tell him the same story I tell him every time.”
‘You can bring your newborn to class,’ my Dean emails me. I was relieved, but afraid. Will he cry all the time?’: Mom takes newborn to law school classes, does ‘everything in my power’ to give children ‘opportunity to be successful’
“On the last trimester of my pregnancy, I talked with the Dean. ‘I don’t have any support system near me, my husband works full time and takes night courses. I’m supposed to graduate next year. I don’t want to fall behind.’ She looked me in the eyes and said, ‘Tell me who your professors are next semester. I will talk with them personally.’”
My Sister Died Of Diet-Related Disease, So I Lost 125 Pounds To Stay Alive For Her Kids
“If Rachel did not survive this battle, I had to be there for her children—Sophia and Henry—who meant the world to her. I had no choice but to be healthy. While my sister could not control her cancer diagnosis, I could control the food I was putting in my body every day.”
‘I found out devastating news. She’s in jail, permanently lost custody because she’s an addict. Crystal meth.’: Mom too wrapped up in her own ‘self-loathing’ to see past friend’s ‘mask’ of why she was so thin
“I walked in the door of their beautiful, suburban dream house. I looked up to see a woman whose body would’ve made Heidi Klum look like a hobo. She was so thin. She looked tired, as you would expect, but there wasn’t an ounce of baby weight left on her barely a few months postpartum. I instantly judged myself.”
‘I loved my older cousin. At 8, I learned the only way to be friends with him was to have sex with him.’: Daughter and mother in addiction recovery together after years of childhood trauma, ‘If that isn’t wonderful, I don’t know what is’
“I remember the bright red carpet in his closet. This ongoing ‘event’ became our secret, I held onto this secret for close to 15 years. I never got over what happened to me, I stuffed it so far down. This has been the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I finally surrendered. I had enough. I needed to give myself a chance to live.”