“It took me all day to think up a response.”
‘My daughter changed her profile picture. After 5 minutes I get a text. ‘I didn’t know she was dating a black boy, did you?’: Woman recounts unexpected racist interaction
‘I didn’t get a date to our senior prom. I went instead with a gay classmate of mine. There was no one to shield me from the bullies.’: Woman details journey with cerebral palsy, aggressive ovarian cancer
“Every time a breeze blew by, I could see strands of hair falling to the ground. All I could do was sleep. Every time my brother tried to carry me, I would scream in pain. He rushed me to the nearest hospital, and I begged them to operate on me. The tumor burst inside of me and spread cancer cells all over.”
‘Are you the husband?’ He replied, ‘Haley’s?’ ‘Yes. She and baby aren’t doing well. The baby needs to come NOW.’ I tried to frantically call him. He was completely unaware.’
“When I woke up, I was in a big open room full of other patients recovering. I had multiple nurses around me. One said, ‘Your son is in the NICU.’ My son?! I have a SON? This definitely wasn’t how I expected to find out!”
‘I don’t want to be a foster mom right now.’ The call came when I least expected it. EVERYTHING changed. ‘I’m not ready to lose them.’: Couple takes in 3 siblings, ‘Being a foster mom is a joy’
“‘We have a sibling set of three children.’ I interrupted, ‘THREE??’ It was then that we knew. I felt the dream of a newborn baby slipping away as we agreed to ‘a short while’ while they looked for a prepared family.”
‘Since I was 12, I wanted to be Mrs. Chris. He was my first kiss, my first love. Only there was one problem. Chris was older than me. We had to sneak around. I was obsessed with him.’
“My little sister and I were talking about our pasts. Of course, Chris came up. I made the comment that I needed to call him and see how he’s doing. A few hours later, the phone rang. I recognized the name on Caller ID right away. It was Chris! I was so excited that I jumped. However, it wasn’t Chris on the other end. It was his stepdad.”
‘Wake up!’ My daughter was slumped on the couch. There was a gurgling sound coming from her throat. She stopped breathing.’: Mom believes daughter died from ‘cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity’ in energy drinks
“At 5:37 p.m., my daughter, who was always so full of life, was declared dead due to cardiac arrest. The nurses moved her over so I could sit next to her in bed. I laid there, talking to her all night, without a wink of sleep. I told her how proud I was of her and how much happiness came from being her mom. I didn’t know how I could ever live again.”
‘I take him to the doctor. ‘It’s an emergency!’ I remembered someone put sliced potatoes in their child’s sock, and it helped them feel better. No runny nose, he was cured. So, I did it!’
“I’ll tell you what it DID do. It made my husband think I had lost my mind when the baby is screaming and instead of being with him, I’m in the kitchen stomping around, gathering potatoes like a farmer and trying to slice them like I’m prepping to scalloped potatoes, like a mad woman, chanting, ‘Potatoes! He needs potatoes!’”
‘That’s when he told me. This stranger, this man I’d never seen before, wanted to hold the door open for us. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to again. He shouldn’t have even been alive.’
“’I don’t take walking for granted anymore.’ Those are the powerful words he uttered to me. I’d noticed him walking along the sidewalk as we approached the glass doors, but I didn’t expect him to yell for me to wait, to beg me to allow him to hold that door for us.”
‘I ran away and spent the entire day in agony, waiting to go home and shower. I became the girl known for never showing up and sleeping all the time.’
“I didn’t feel comfortable telling my friends about the weird things I did. I was constantly thinking about how to rid my brain of this mental contamination. I can’t just turn it off like a light switch.”
‘Oh my gosh, there’s a HEARTBEAT! A baby! I knew they were wrong! I’m a MOM! After I caught my breath, I asked the doctor, ‘Is that a heartbeat?’ He was puzzled, but didn’t look happy.’
“I couldn’t even take a breath. The embryologist said, ‘I can’t believe I’m saying this, because I have never seen this happen!’ I still couldn’t breathe. What was he about to say? At this point I’m jumping up and down screaming. I had to ask.”