Emily Richey is a graduate of Pace University NYC. She has written and edited for multiple online platforms, including Love What Matters. She spends her free time petting stray cats.
‘What other first-time mom has to go through this?’ This was going to be messy.’: Divorcee marries widower, adopts stepdaughter, ‘It was worth every hurdle’
“Now, it wasn’t just about him and me. It was about her, a little girl with a huge void in her life. I kept thinking, if this was my little girl, what would I want for her?”
‘You can’t be THAT deaf. You can speak to me.’ My disability was always up for debate.’: Advocate urges ‘there’s no right or wrong way to be deaf’
“They pulled out my eardrums. ‘You’ll be permanently deaf by 30.’ I was devastated.”
‘Something bad happened to Daddy on the boat. He’s not coming home.’ I watched their childhood innocence get stripped away.’: Widow loses husband in tragic accident
“A stranded boat would be spotted, only to find it wasn’t them. ‘Can you identify this hat? This flip flop? This fishing rod?’ It was mentally and emotionally exhausting.”
‘A diagnosis wouldn’t be worth it. You can’t do anything about it.’ I was angry. No one took me seriously.’: Chronic illness warrior urges ‘my pain is real’
“I kept telling my mom, ‘This isn’t anxiety.’ I was finally fighting for myself, yet people continued to ignore me. Instead of giving up, I fought harder.”
‘The doctor started with, ‘Do you remember the worst-case scenarios we discussed? We’re facing one of those.’: Mom welcomes rainbow baby
“My heart sank further as each anomaly was listed. ‘Your baby doesn’t have a pronounced jawline. His limbs hadn’t formed below his elbows and knees.'”
‘She looks so good!’ the nurse kept telling me. Yet tomorrow, surgeons would remove half her brain.’: Mom shares daughter’s Infantile Spasms diagnosis
“I injected her chubby thighs with steroids twice a day. My beautiful, happy baby gained 5 pounds in a month. She acted like she wanted to crawl out of her own skin.”
‘I know we’re setting you up for heartbreak.’ Something about them just felt right. They were home.’: Mom adopts brothers after infertility battle, ‘My boys are an answered prayer’
“The heartbreak is nothing compared to the day they come through the door and take off their coat.”
‘One of Eliza’s eyes was sticking out. The doctor took one look and said, ‘I think she has a tumor.’: Mom’s two kids diagnosed with cancer 2 weeks apart
“As soon as he found out, our pediatrician said, ‘Take your son Oliver to the oncologist, too.’ I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.”
‘The doctor walked in and said, ‘It’s time to take him.’ A rush of fear came over me. We were supposed to have another week.’: Heart warrior ‘defies the odds one day at a time’
“Thoughts of a nice smooth pregnancy went out the window. My biggest fears were coming to life.”
‘Both of his eyes bounced. I knew there was something wrong.’: Mom says ‘we didn’t know how beautiful raising a blind child would be’
“I cried every time I thought of him not being able to see my face. It was hard not to grieve the baby we once dreamed of.”