“‘Get up!’ everyone shouted. I couldn’t move ANYTHING. I looked up and realized a man fell off the balcony. He landed on my head.”
‘I felt an almighty THUD, initially I thought I was being ATTACKED. I fell backwards, and my head hit the floor.’: Paralyzed woman becomes athlete, searches for cure, ‘I’m not sitting and waiting, I’m facilitating the process’
‘She’ll be in a wheelchair by 40 and you’ll end up her caretaker.’ I accomplished everything his dad said I COULDN’T do.’: Wife with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, finds love, defies all expectations
“My husband’s dad gave him a book about cerebral palsy, probably written by a doctor who retired in 1975. I read it because I wanted to know what my life could’ve looked like. But my husband NEVER did.”
‘How will I call an ambulance if I’m ALONE?’ I gasp for air and am unable to talk.’: Asthma warrior shares journey, urges ‘if your body needs rest, do it’’
“My life revolves around hospital care, appointments, and medication charts. Many people do not have time for a sick friend.”
‘I’m coming home.’ I’d wait for my momma at the end of the driveway until physically dragged crying into the house.’: Daughter candidly shares life and loss of mom battling addiction
“I hated her, but I loved her. I wanted to be nothing like her, but I also wanted to be just like her. Oh God, what I would do to hug her right now and tell her how much I love and forgive her.”
‘I was 34 weeks and collapsed to the floor holding my tummy. I feared he wouldn’t meet our new baby.’: Family incorporates daily gratitude after dad survives cancer, ‘Love and kindness are never wasted’
“Cancer was the start of our gratitude journal. It taught me to see the miracles and magic right in front of me and to remember there is ALWAYS someone craving your daily reality. It has given us the lifelong gift of perspective.”
‘At 20, I had a poo bag attached to me. I had my 3rd set of surgeries in a year. They removed several FEET of intestines.’: Car accident survivor shares recovery journey, ‘You can be you again, even if the ‘you’ is different’
“‘The moment I said, ‘I’m fine,’ the world got wobbly. ‘Ashtyn, can you hear me? We need to get her OUT of here.’ I was in the ICU for 6 days and then released back into the care of my mom. I thought this was the end of it. It wasn’t.”
‘How could I cope with being a widow before the age of 40? My heart broke.’: Mother births rainbow baby while husband battles brain tumor
“She was conceived and born during a global pandemic, using frozen sperm from the week her daddy was diagnosed with a brain tumor.”
‘At 2, they decided amputation was the best option. But NOTHING could have prepared me for adolescence.’: Amputee shares experiences with athletics and modeling, ‘My leg is a work of art’
“I wore pants when it was hot, crossed my left leg over my right, and wore revealing clothes and WAY too much makeup to detract attention from my prosthesis. Their eyes bore holes into my soul.”
It Took 25 Years To Admit My Childhood Sexual Trauma
“When the news was full of women coming forward with abuse reports, a small match lit the furnace of my memories, and I was knotted up inside.”
‘Look at those eyes; she is a fighter.’ She was one of the smallest, sickest babies they’d ever seen.’: Mom of twinless micropreemie offers advice for navigating ‘NICU rollercoaster’
“‘Do you want to see her?’ My first response was no. All I wanted to know was if she could come home.”