“He had been rushed to the ER. I was confused. Dylan was as fit as a fiddle. Something about seeing Dylan morph into a completely different character sent fear and doubt through my body. The agony of waiting was almost unbearable. What if the transplant doesn’t work?”
‘He doesn’t have much time.’ Dylan was as fit as a fiddle. ‘What if I never get to see my brother again?’: Woman becomes perfect match for brother’s bone marrow transplant, ‘It was my turn to repay him’
‘You pray for the weekend to go by quickly, just so you can check in with them again. You dream of the day you can embrace them.’: Teacher says ‘my students became like my very own children’
“It was March. I started to feel the school year winding down and the lump in my throat growing. I put an app on my phone, counting down the days. Not because I was looking forward to summer, but because I wanted to make each day I had left count. We were together one day, and without warning, they were gone.”
‘She held my hand and asked, ‘Mama, can you please tell me what’s going on at the hospital? I’m scared.’ She’s 7 years old.’: Nurse mom asks others to realize ‘this isn’t some joke, this is real’
“There are people out there who are claiming this is a hoax, that it’s some made up BS. She’s had a mama who has worked in the ER her whole life, but she knows something is wrong. She’s pulled me aside twice now, asking me to stay home. ‘Mama, you have asthma and have a higher risk.’ She’s 7 years old. Let that sink in.”
‘When I walk into a room, I feel like people were talking about me. I’m constantly wondering if so-and-so likes me, or if I’m annoying them.’: Woman urges ‘anxiety doesn’t make you broken’
“You wake up with your own issues, and still get sh*t done. Anxiety doesn’t make you broken. If anything, it makes you resilient.”
‘I was told, ‘Crab meat will ‘cure’ it.’ They suggested I stop taking insulin. My parents worried if anyone would ever marry me.’: Young woman describes hardships of being Type 1 Diabetic in India
“I wanted to be ‘normal’ like my friends. I started neglecting my health. As you can imagine, it doesn’t take too long to forget about the nasty finger pricks and injections. I had to skip some because of ‘what people would think.’”
‘I drank my coffee and cried, like every day since February 14th. I wonder what her outfit would have looked like.’: On first holiday without daughter, mom says ‘our picture-perfect family isn’t picture-perfect anymore’
“Everyone kept texting and telling us they love us, they are thinking of us, and they know how hard Easter is going to be. If it were up to me, I would have just skipped Easter entirely. Our picture-perfect family really isn’t picture-perfect anymore.”
‘When the toddler had a pee accident during bedtime rush, you didn’t get frustrated. Instead you turned on weird music, and danced to make me laugh.’: Woman pens love letter to husband, ‘You are the light of our lives’
“You danced your way off to get some cleaner and a towel, and danced back in, and danced while you cleaned it up. Not all husbands and fathers bring joy home like that, like you do for us.”
‘I hear it all the time: ‘With technology today, we don’t need the post office. Why are you guys still around?’: Postman says ‘I’m proud of my uniform,’ explains why they’re ‘essential workers’
“Maybe you can do without the U.S Postal Service in your own little world. However, the country as a whole could not. When I put my uniform on each morning, I’m proud to wear it, and I’m proud of my job. You see, your mail carrier…they’re the front-line.”
‘It’s just you and me now, kid.’ I lost both my brother and my mom. My dad was the only one left.’ Woman confronts depression after family loss, ‘I feel lighter and freer now’
“My boyfriend always said things like, ‘You just lack willpower,’ in a playful, mocking tone; as if what I dealt with wasn’t all that serious. He didn’t believe my inability to overcome my depression. He tore me down to the point where I felt my existence was something I wanted to end.”
‘If I’m so smart, why aren’t I a success yet?’ I was so hung up on this idea of what success was, I didn’t care if I was happy.’: Woman urges ‘you are a success in your own right’
“If your childhood was anything like mine, you grew up with your parents saying you were going to ‘be something’ one day. I was so hung up on this idea of what ‘success’ was. A 9-5 Monday through Friday gig, making more than $70,000 a year. I didn’t care if I was happy, as long as the job matched those criteria.”