‘I can’t take the way my dad watches me get dressed. I need to leave,’ I told my friends. A man near us was listening. He was wearing an NYPD shirt. He said he would help me.’

“The man came over, introduced himself and told us he was a police officer. I was scared. My dad was old and I was his caregiver, so I didn’t want to press charges. I just needed to make things better. This man listened. I mean, really listened. I stayed out with him later than usual.”

‘Are you OK tonight?’ I was in the grocery store bawling my eyes out. ‘This isn’t a forever feeling.’ I’m so grateful to you.’: Mom overcomes severe depressive episode thanks to kindness of strangers

“I was afraid to leave my house without my husband. ‘I know this is hard for you,’ he would say. ‘Can you tell yourself that you’re safe?’ ‘No,’ I would respond. I reached out as a bit of a last-ditch effort, right there in the grocery store, tears running down my face. The response was incredible. Those women saved me.”

‘An older man said to my sister, ‘Let me get a taste of that.’ He was sticking his tongue out and wiggling it. She instantly turned red. She was 12. He laughed and I did, too. I don’t know why, but I did.’

“This is what it REALLY means to be a man. It’s kissing my wife’s stomach and telling her she’s beautiful, even with her c-section scar and stretch marks. It’s telling my daughter ‘Honey, OWN that Jersey’ when she comes home from school crying after a boy told her to take it off because girls ‘don’t play’ sports.”

‘The anesthetist put a mask over my face. ‘Please help me, I’m going to die.’ She replied, ‘You‘re not going to die.’ I thought about the family I was leaving behind, and then it went dark.’

“Mom kept saying to me, ‘You’re in labor.’ I kept replying, ‘No I’m not.’ Ethan and I just kept repeating, ‘IMAGINE, imagine if this is it!’ We were so excited, and so naive of what was to come. I put my chin to my chest and pushed as hard as my body could handle.”

‘I cried as soon as I saw the tech’s pale face. ‘I feel sick,’ she said. ‘What other choice do we have?’ She looked like she could throw up.’: Twin ‘warrior princesses’ survive ‘fatal’ twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome

“We found out very early on. 7 weeks into the pregnancy, the doctor looked at the sonogram and said, ‘Twins!’ But that’s not all. They were going to share a placenta, but not an amniotic sac. ‘This is a very high-risk pregnancy. This could take the life of your girls.’ It was gut-wrenching news. We would do everything possible to fight, to save my girls. They had a 0% chance of survival.”

‘I really love you,’ he whispers. He hugs me and smiles as I put him to bed. ‘No, buddy. I love you more.’: Dad shares touching glimpses of fatherhood, ‘I will cherish this job forever’

“There’s a curtain. My wife and I on one side, Jude and the hospital staff on the other. I’m reassuring my wife she’s doing a great job. Just when I think she might literally break my hand, I hear it. Jude’s first cry. The nurses quickly rush to get him warm. He’s still crying. A nurse motions for me to come over. I lean in, whisper in his ear. ‘Hey buddy.’ He stops crying, opens his right eye, and we look at each other for the very first time.”

‘I received a text. ‘Have you ever considered adoption? I have a friend looking to place.’ I said, ‘I wish!’ When my husband came home, I pulled him close. This was not a coincidence.’

“My husband asked me to schedule him a doctor’s appointment. This was rare. He never asks for that. He found a hard mass on his right testicle and needed it checked out immediately. ‘The doctor will see you now,’ the receptionist said. Once in the room, the doctor confirmed the news.”

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