“After one day of exercise I walked into my bathroom and began removing my sports bra. I collapsed to the ground with debilitating chest pains. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t yell for help. I thought I was dying when I had finally found reason to live.”
‘I was in front of my mirror at age 13. ‘This is not your fault. I love you so much and I am still your daughter. I am sorry.’ I didn’t want my parents to blame themselves for how messed up I was inside.’
‘My husband and I watched in horror. ‘Don’t worry, he’s going to be okay.’ I nodded, but all I could think was, ‘NO, my newborn just had heart surgery, NONE of this is okay.’
“Every day I wonder – is today the day we get the call there is a heart for Max? Is today the day my son gets a second chance at life? He is still fighting hard. We refuse to give up on him.”
‘They ran towards him. ‘Daddy, are you gonna die?’ Deployment was 10 months. We planned a surprise. I never mentioned it. I didn’t want to get my hopes up.’
“He told me he was scheduled to return home five months early. I was excited but if you know the military things are always changing. We told our boys we were going to the airport to pick up my sister. He planned it all out.”
How I Spread Mental Health Awareness After Losing My Son To Suicide
“‘Sending people to talk to me only makes things worse.’ That was the last text I ever received from my sweet boy.”
‘There was an 18-month-old Caucasian little girl. ‘Do you want to move forward?’: Mom adopts siblings, births baby with Down syndrome
“I looked at him as he read it. The biggest smile came over his face as he wrote, ‘YES!’ The next month – I was pregnant.”
‘I was 13 hours away, with $1.32 in my account.’: Kind Redditor funds struggling student’s last visit with dying mother
“I wrote, ‘My mom is dying in hospice care and I feel guilty every day I’m not there sitting by her side.’ I awoke to something so unexpected. ‘Alex! Oh my god, Alex!’”
‘When my son was 10 months old, his daddy, my husband, left. He left the state. Left me to care for a baby alone. How could this happen to me? I did everything right. It broke me.’
“In the midst of my own grief, my son still needed me, more than ever. I still felt so isolated and alone. I couldn’t just pass my kid off to someone else. He needed me.”
‘Her oxygen levels dropped. She had blisters and dark swirls all over her body. Ever seen a movie where someone gets devastating news and collapses down a wall? That was me.’
“After about 8 hours of not being able to get our 5-day old daughter to eat, we took her to the emergency room. ‘She’s fine,’ they told me again. I kissed my 2-year-old. ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’m just going to go make sure your sister is okay.’”
‘I stepped out for fresh air on the cruise ship. ‘How’re you doing tonight?’ All I could see was a beautiful white smile.’: Couple share long-distance love story, ‘Love is stronger than distance’
“It was a very handsome man in front of me. As we spoke, I thought to myself, ‘I’ll probably never see him again.’ Weeks went by and I had almost forgotten about him. Then, one day, I was walking back onto the ship when I saw a man being scanned through security. I peeked over at his name tag. My heart fluttered.”
‘I was pregnant. I was only 21. I started bleeding. ‘Maybe it’s for the best,’ one family member said. This was supposed to be the happiest time of my life. Instead, it was a nightmare.’
“Josh came home. He suggested we go for a walk, but when I told him to just take our daughter. He couldn’t understand why – and that’s when I lost it. I was screaming at everyone, ‘WHY AM I HERE? I DON’T UNDERSTAND. WHAT IS THE POINT.’”