“His teacher means the WORLD to him, the world. We had big plans for May 28th. Finn’s graduation from preschool and an adorable spring program that was planned. It’s all gone. He will never get to complete preschool. We had our kids at this school for 6 whole years and with one announcement, gone.”
‘This was the last photo I took of Finn in a school. It’s all gone. His body language is an obvious expression that he did NOT want to be pulled away.’: Mom of son with heart disease says ‘you can’t have a lifestyle without LIFE’
‘Please don’t take him away from me.’ We were wiping down our phones, scrubbing our fingernails with hot soap. We put on gowns, gloves, and masks.’: Mom births 24-week-old miracle micro-preemie
“‘He’s breathing.’ That’s the first thing my husband, Myles, said to me as the doctor delivered our 1 lb. 14 oz. baby via emergency C-section at only 24 weeks. The nurses were running to his bed to manually pump breaths into his lungs. I went to the ER fully prepared to not hear his heartbeat. But every time I thought he was gone, there he was, his heart beating away.”
‘I have no desire to be a SAHM, no disrespect. I want to let my children sleep in, relax on the couch. I just wanted a moment to regroup.’: Working mom says ‘my children need me, but I need them more’
“I wanted another maternity leave. One without sore nipples, leaking breasts, crying babies, or daily trips to the NICU. I wanted ‘a pause’ on life. But then something changed. I took a breath and I began to see things through a new lens.”
‘A Chinese student of mine was cowardly assaulted for walking down the street speaking another language.’: Man urges ‘look after your Asian friends’ during pandemic after student assaulted
“The coward who attacked him, spewing racist trash and telling him to speak English, smashed a huge section of his cheekbone. He’s going to need serious and expensive facial reconstruction surgery to keep from losing the eye.”
‘This may come as a surprise…but we aren’t on a routine. My house is not a school. My children do work when they feel like it.’: Mom gives herself ‘grace’ during quarantine, ‘I don’t feel bad about it’
“I’m not homeschooling. The younger two have their packets and are completing them when they feel like it. We aren’t getting up super early, and we’ve watched more TV then we probably should. Because the truth is, this situation is the pits. Pretty much anything goes about now.”
‘I remembered there’s the most delicious donut shop. I got an idea. That night, I ordered 60 tacos.’: Nurse says ‘show a health care worker you appreciate they are out there risking their life’
“Going to work feels a little like going to war. Knowing the hardship restaurants are experiencing, I got an idea. That night, I shared my ‘economic stimulus donuts’ with my coworkers.”
‘You could have an abortion. At least save yourself.’ I was pregnant with my first baby, and planning his funeral.’: Woman encouraged to terminate baby with down syndrome, ‘We can’t control what our lives will bring us’
“A week later, I got a phone call from the abortion clinic to schedule an appointment. It turns out my doctor and his wife aborted their child with down syndrome because they thought he or she would become a burden. He thought I should do the same.”
‘I went from, ‘This is so blown out of proportion. What is wrong with people?’ to ‘What if someone I love gets this? What I get this?’: Woman says ‘it’s okay to not be okay right now, go easy on yourself and others’
“Why do I strangely feel like I am a character in a Stephen King novel? One minute, I think it will be over. I make jokes. The next minute, I’m having full-blown anxiety. It’s okay to not be okay right now.”
‘It can’t be bad, you’re young. You look fine.’ I questioned whether my symptoms were in my head.’: Single mom diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, ‘I don’t know what tomorrow has in store, but I’m ready to fight’
“I went from busy full days of work to barely handling the commute. I struggled to keep up with other moms my age. Misconceptions such as, ‘Young people can’t get it,’ and ‘You look totally healthy,’ infuriated me. It’s not just a disease for the elderly. I wasn’t fighting only for myself, but also my son.”
‘3 weeks after our trip to Disney, I stared at a black and white image with a mass that took up a third of my son’s brain.’: Dad urges ‘never take a day of normalcy for granted’ during quarantine after losing son to brain tumor
“We were isolated for 28 days in the hospital room. He was immunocompromised. Our world consisted of hand sanitizer, hospital masks, and surgical gloves to avoid contamination. As we watch the news, we hear the increasing mortality rates for coronavirus, some 3%. I would’ve given anything to hear those numbers for my son. Normalcy was ripped from our hands.”