“I would post our family pictures online as a record of our wonderful life. I can’t help but think she was only with us on borrowed time. If I’d known this, I would have had her sooner so I could have loved her and experienced Kinsley longer. 8 years wasn’t nearly long enough.”
‘Someone commented, ‘I didn’t know her, but this girl captivated me!’ I can’t help but miss her more. I’m her mom. I know how awesome she is.’: After losing daughter to flu mom says ‘8 years wasn’t nearly long enough’
‘Dear big kids, having this unexpected time with you is a gift. But I wish you didn’t have to be here.’: Mom says ‘life threw us a curve ball, but watching you play on is one of the honors of my life’
“A much as I love having you on my couch and at my table—I don’t love how hard it is for you to be those places when you expected to be somewhere else right now.”
‘They just want to make it home to their loved ones. They’re working soul-crushing shifts. Who will help THEM?: Woman pens ode to Covid-19 war heroes, ‘We see you, and we salute you’
“They run towards the danger, as everyone else runs the other way. They’ve made choices that will follow them for the rest of their lives. They’ve been the last face many have seen as they drew their last breath, those images seared in their minds for all time.”
‘I’ve seen too many of my peers crying in the aisles lately. Sometimes I ugly cry outside. But never inside. I know I’m not alone.’: Grocery store worker fears taking Covid-19 home to family, ‘What if I today is the day?’
“I work for my town’s local grocery store. I have 3 children confined at home. Daily, I see fear on the faces down every aisle. I see huge, barren holes on shelves from panic. It never seems like enough. I know I’m not alone.”
‘I cried, ‘Make it stop! I can’t take it any longer!’ I downed laxatives to ’empty out’ whatever I’d let inside my body.’: Woman battling anorexia survives laxative suicide attempt, ‘EVERY one of us need to reach the end, even if we can’t always see that’
“I went downstairs to get the laundry and crumpled down on the bottom step. That’s when I felt the shooting pain of the latest round of laxatives attempting to kick in. I dropped the basket and crawled on my hands and knees. I could feel my stomach contracting fiercely. I didn’t even have the strength to hold a phone to my ear.”
‘My son looked at me and said, ‘Mom, I’m tired of this.’ The first 2 weeks we had so much fun. Any structure we had is now gone.’: Mom says ‘the sooner we come to terms with this, the better’
“Tomorrow is my son’s birthday. I slacked too long and the gifts I ordered won’t arrive in time. I reassure myself by saying, ‘He’s only 4, he won’t be disappointed.’ But in my heart, I’m fuming. Who am I? Just 2 months ago I planned a birthday party extraordinaire for my oldest. This just isn’t like me. Any sort of structure we had is now gone.”
‘We think you had a heart attack.’ I knew what was coming, the URGENT TRANSPLANT LIST.’: At 28, woman suffers heart failure and sepsis, ‘It’s HER heart that keeps me alive’
“My heart was failing. I couldn’t even get out of bed. I threw up instantly and then fainted. ‘I can’t be sick forever. I can’t live like this.’ The coordinator came in to tell me there may be a heart for me — her heart. I wasn’t scared. I was ready.”
‘I woke up gasping for air. The ER doctor told me, ‘I’m sure you have it.’ The nurses were scared. Mack pulled away and I wanted to cry.’: Woman struggles to get tested for Covid-19 says ‘please know this is real, people are dying’
“I’d just been diagnosed with the flu on March 5th and started to feel better until this hit. I was cleaning the restroom when Dante came in and said, ‘Mom, what are you doing? Get out of the bathroom! You are putting on too much bleach!!! You are going to stop breathing!’”
‘Today I sat in my therapist chair and listened to a middle school student sob over FaceTime because she can’t return to school.’: Therapist shares mental health tips to survive quarantine
“If you need help during this time, please call a therapist. You are not bothering us! We want to help you! We have never in our lifetime dealt with the loss of our lives as we have at this moment.”
‘I was at a table alone when I heard an old professor call my name. ‘How’s work?’ I could feel the heaviness in her question.’: Mom says when it comes to success ‘you become what you think about’
“It was the 10-year mark of my job and I began to grow restless. I was at the top and there was no position above me to reach. I started thinking of myself as something or someone else. I was tired of holding things up. I wanted what I wanted. I had to be honest.”