“The silence was better than him not being here. I’d get an email from him just simply saying, ‘I love you.’ In between heartache and the grief of losing my dad, I was letting go of my 7-year marriage to a man I realized never loved the REAL me.”
‘You need help. You’re NOT okay.’: New mom, divorcee finds ‘a way out of the darkness’ during postpartum depression
‘The doctor said, ‘You’ll get fat and never dance again.’: Nephrotic syndrome warrior proves illness ‘does not define me’
“Only 18, I burst into tears, thinking my life was over. Now, I can only thank the doctor for giving me a reason to prove them wrong.”
‘There was a ring with MY name on it!’: Janitor with cerebral palsy ‘overwhelmed’ by football team’s act of kindness
“No work is meaningless, no job mundane. When we seek to do our work, whatever it may be, with a heart of joy, even scrubbing toilets can touch an entire nation.”
‘I was tired of coughing up blood. People stared at the sick girl carrying the oxygen tank on her back. I had enough!’: Woman with Cystic Fibrosis survives double lung transplant
“At 16, my health deteriorated. I was oxygen-dependent 24 hours a day. I was tired of being breathless all the time and coughing non-stop. One morning, that life-changing phone call came.”
‘My doctor wrote off my symptoms as ‘being pregnant.’ I felt them cut me open.’: New mom urges awareness of PPCM
“They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die, but it was different for me. I wasn’t scared.”
‘I’d been on my phone. I might have judged another mom, had I seen her doing the same thing.’: Mom reminds others not to judge
“I couldn’t process what I’d heard. I still haven’t.”
‘I’m STUPID. I can’t do ANYTHING right.’ These words are like a knife to my heart. Everything in me wants to tell them they’re wrong: Mom urges ‘EMBRACE your difficult feelings’
“My reaction didn’t help, obviously.”
‘I felt nothing. The alarm started sounding and nurses flooded into the room. All I could say was, ‘Does she have it?’: Mom recounts labor experience of daughter with Down syndrome
“And when the nurse said to me, ‘Are you okay? You don’t seem excited.’ I hated her for it. I hated that I hated her for it, but I did. They began inducing me, and the minute they did I started contracting.”
‘He raged, ‘Just STOP eating.’ Shocked and embarrassed, I did. I learned to eat quietly or not at all.’: Woman seeks recovery from eating disorder, trauma, ‘I’m reclaiming my joy’
“‘STOP scraping your teeth on your fork!’ he yelled. I feared family meals. I became strong when skinny and untouchable when numb.”
‘A little old lady complimented my car. I could have just said thank you. Instead, I said, ‘I bought it after my husband died.’ She had tears in her eyes.’: Woman shares touching moment with stranger over love and grief
“She told me she’s a widow, too. She told me about losing her daughter. I did something I rarely do—I slowed down. I leaned in. I listened.”