“I wanted to save my son’s smile and innocence, since I couldn’t save him. When the end happens, I will have these memories to remind me of the wonderful times we had fighting a horrid disease. I will have those beautiful blue eyes I saw for the first time when he came into this world.”
“I have no idea how we ended up married. Being friends for years first, I knew about his cancer diagnosis, and the treatment that left him infertile. She called us. I was so nervous. But when I heard her voice, I just knew.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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 was shocked to see her hair was so white. ‘Your baby has 2 extra genes. Would you both agree to lab work to see where she got them from?’ Her father has dark hair and I have light brown hair. Never in a million years did I think I would have a blonde baby.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“‘How are you doing, lately?’ They ask. And most of us stick with, ‘I’m fine.’ My mastectomy is coming up, but I am fine! You can’t pay bills, but you are fine. Her marriage is crumbling, and her family will be devastated. She is fine!”
