“Over the following weeks, fishing clumps of hair from the drain became part of my routine. People commented, ‘What a waste of a body.’ This disease isn’t cruel, the stigma is.”
‘I gently lathered shampoo and rinsed. I felt a fullness in my fists, countless strands in tangled clumps among the suds.’: Woman with alopecia urges ‘losing hair doesn’t equal losing value’
‘I licked her skin to see if it was salty. I cried, thinking my tiny baby was going to die before 20.’: First-time mom to daughter with cystic fibrosis says ‘she’s THRIVING’
“The bad seemed to outweigh the good. Hospital stays, lung transplants, endless medications, isolation. The first thing her team said was, ‘Don’t believe anything you read online.'”
‘They had to grow up too fast. I’m here to pick up where their dad left off.’: Bonus dad parenting grieving sons says ‘I’m helping them the best I know how’
“You won’t have all the answers. You won’t always do what’s right or what’s best for them. But you should ALWAYS respect and honor their lost parent.”
‘STOP using ‘bad’ to describe a person’s body part.’: Limb difference advocate urges ‘teach people to love their bodies’
“You’re teaching them if their body doesn’t look or function like most do, then it’s BAD.”
‘What other first-time mom has to go through this?’ This was going to be messy.’: Divorcee marries widower, adopts stepdaughter, ‘It was worth every hurdle’
“Now, it wasn’t just about him and me. It was about her, a little girl with a huge void in her life. I kept thinking, if this was my little girl, what would I want for her?”
‘I heard loud honking and a gruff, ‘COME ON!’ He refused to make eye contact with me.’: Mom to children with autism shares upsetting bus stop moment
“I yelled how proud I was so they could hear me through the window and made ‘I love you’ in sign language. I didn’t need him to get in trouble. I needed him to simply UNDERSTAND.”
‘To the world, my role is unimportant; a dime a dozen. But to my family, I am everything.’: Stay-at-home mom urges ‘my role IS essential’
“The walls of my home don’t boast a college diploma. My resume is short…VERY short. The infinite loads of dishes I wash have never garnered a medal, the hours I spend vacuuming never secure me a promotion. Forbes won’t be coming out with an article about us anytime soon.”
‘You can’t be THAT deaf. You can speak to me.’ My disability was always up for debate.’: Advocate urges ‘there’s no right or wrong way to be deaf’
“They pulled out my eardrums. ‘You’ll be permanently deaf by 30.’ I was devastated.”
‘Do you ever feel GUILTY for saying no?’: Woman urges ‘don’t put all you have into others’
“It’s not RUDE to say no.”
‘My sister just had a baby IN the car!’ I put my mouth over her small mouth and nose, and sucked the fluid out.’: Mom survives car accident, births daughter in car
“A woman rushed over to us, frantically asking, ‘Are you okay?’ I stammered, ‘What happened?’ My husband was screaming in a way I’d NEVER heard anyone scream.”