“My 4 children came down with a regular, common cold. They all took the same medications, had the same symptoms. While 3 of my children continued to improve, my youngest daughter became extremely worse.”
‘I woke her up at 2 a.m. and realized she couldn’t move her arm. I asked her to raise her arm, and realized it was paralyzed.’: Mom details daughter’s journey with Acute Flaccid Myelitis
‘Nobody thought I had a problem, I was just the life of the party. I was reaching out for help, but doctors didn’t believe me. I was even suicidal on my wedding day.’
“I knew something was terribly wrong. I was in law school about to collapse on the floor of my dorm room when I realized my life would never be the same again. It was like an all-night-long strobe light party in my brain.”
‘My neighbors change these skeletons every day for Halloween. I think I finally need to share them.’: Woman documents neighbors’ amazing Halloween efforts
“I started to snap photos to compare all of them. My neighbors’ names are Bob and Bill. They were so excited.”
‘They said, ‘You’re lucky you don’t have kids.’ I had just had my first miscarriage.’
“I went back to work the next day taking orders at a drive-in while someone was complaining about their kids. I explained to them I had just miscarried, and I WOULD gladly take their place.”
‘Imagine if we stopped beating ourselves up and just saw ourselves as our children see us? As everything.’
“So, when you’re asked, ‘what did you do all day?’ ‘Save the world,’ is an acceptable answer.”
‘In the blink of an eye, they were killed. I am a teenager, time and time again being informed of funerals for people I know.’: Woman recalls loved ones lost, ‘We are all one unexpected tragedy away from heartbreak’
“In the blink of an eye, the word suicide is a part of my vocabulary and my family story.”
‘I couldn’t grasp how we went from a happy new family of 5 to our world being turned upside down! Our sweet, perfect baby girl went into brain surgery at just 9 days old.’
“In her 34 years of work, she had never seen a brain bleed so severe, didn’t know what kind of quality of life she would have, and said she would be in a vegetable state. She had a terrible bedside manner, and came off as harsh and unfeeling to me.”
My Birthing Experience Was Traumatic, Devoid Of Empathy, And Nearly Lethal
“‘Oh honey,’ the doctor replied, ‘You’re just being hormonal. Every woman goes through a part of her labor where she doesn’t think she can do it.’ I was shocked. I wanted some damn answers.”
‘I begged my husband to come back, but he was done. He took sole custody of the kids.’: Mom’s journey to heal her family after struggling with addiction
“I drove high with my kids in the car. He packed up, took the kids and left. I was devastated. My marriage was over, and I wasn’t expecting to get my husband back, but I desperately wanted a relationship with my children. The only thing that stopped me from committing suicide was because it was my daughter’s 5th birthday the next week. I didn’t want my death hanging over that date.”
‘Levi has been begging to wear a dress to school. You can see the pure joy on his face. But my heart raced as we took him to school.’: Mom says no one should ever be shamed for being true to themselves
“As I left, I couldn’t help but pray and hope he would have a perfect day. Until I got a phone call.”