“‘Her own family didn’t even want her,’ the judge told me solemnly, ‘She’s probably not going to live. Why would you even bother? Why do you care so much?’ I looked right back at her and said, ‘Because her life matters.'”
‘She was abandoned with nothing, not even a name.’: Woman starts orphanage for terminally ill kids
‘I’m lying on the ground crying. ‘I can’t bear this.’ His life will be over before it really begins.’: Mom advocates for son’s terminal illness, Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, ‘Strength is more than muscle’
“How can I watch him learn how to feed himself, knowing all too soon he won’t be able to move his arms? I tried to imagine what life was going to look like with this diagnosis. ‘I just can’t do this.’”
‘I carry him. I know it looks silly. His toes dangle past my knees. But still, I carry his awkwardly long body against my own.’: Special needs mom says ‘he carries me, too’
“The world moves fast and demands so much. I imagine with my son’s disability, it is often more exhausting. When he’s reached his limit, I’m close to my own. But when I carry him, he somehow carries me, too.”
‘I dropped to my knees. ‘Mom, I’m scared. I’m more than scared. Something terrible is going to happen to me.’: 21-year-old receives Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis, ‘I never knew how strong I’d come out of this’
“‘Miss Lehman, come on back.’ Finally. The moment I was waiting for. I had a whole list of symptoms written in my notes on my phone I read off to the nurses. They all looked at me with question marks on their faces. I could feel their energy. They thought I was just a young girl looking for attention.”
‘I feel like I’m pissing off a lot of people. I break my back, good mood, and spirit in pursuit of the best me. Don’t mock.’: Mom struggling with best decisions asks for understanding, ‘You have no idea’
“I’m too much or too little of something, or I’m doing too much or too little of something I should or shouldn’t be doing. Sometimes you’ve got to call other people out and now it’s time for that.”
‘Caleigh complained of back pain. ‘Her spine is collapsing,’ the doctor said. My sweet daughter was curving.’: Mom to daughter with muscular dystropy says ‘not every bad situation has to have a bad ending’
“Out of the blue, her ‘best friend’ no longer wanted to be her best friend. Countless strangers walk up and ask why she is using a ‘grandma scooter’ to get around. Any time she falls, people stare or laugh instead of rush to assist her. Still, she does not believe in ‘I cannot.’ Through all the needle sticks and surgeries, she does her best to comfort ME.”
‘Will she have brain issues?’ The doctor held my hand and said, ‘I don’t know.’ I’ve never been so scared.’: Woman births baby with Spina bifida, Hydrocephalus, ‘We’ve been through so much’
“We were given options to terminate. ‘Am I being punished?’ I didn’t know if either of us would make it. All I could do was hide in my closet and cry.”
‘I was told, ‘It’s good you had a C-section. You had it easy.’ I did not get a lucky pass.’: Mom urges ‘please stop thinking C-sections are no big deal’
“I had a major surgery where my stomach was ripped open. I endured pain and tears for months. As a mother, I felt worthless unable to help with household chores. This wasn’t what I wanted for my birth.”
‘Molly wasn’t safe. The naive side of me thought, ‘She could never do anything harmful.’: Dad describes helping wife through postpartum depression, ‘Know it will get better with help’
“A few days had passed after her initial statement about ‘not wanting our child.’ I had always known her to ‘say a few things’ to get a reaction. She wasn’t safe.”
‘I have proof I’m not lazy. The doctor said, ‘You’ll have challenges.’ Sometimes I can’t form a sentence.’: Woman diagnosed with narcolepsy, ‘I refuse to let it control my life’
“I sat motionless in my car, trying to process what it all meant. The world felt so quiet and so loud at the same time, as if it wasn’t the world’s noise I was hearing but the ringing in your ears you hear when you’re about to get sick.”