“The apartment above mine had a leak. My bedroom was full of black mold. They ‘cleaned’ it by painting over it. I gave up. 2 months later, I couldn’t get out of bed. I desperately searched for answers.”
‘This isn’t living. It’s merely surviving.’ I was totally bed-bound. I was a shadow of the person I used to be.’: Woman with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome says ‘I appreciate every single second’
‘I looked back to see my friends. Then it happened. I was HIT. I couldn’t feel my body.’: Man with cystic fibrosis survives shooting, ‘I’ll fight as long as I’m breathing’
“While in the hospital, I was asked, ‘Are you a gang member?’ I was like, ‘OMG, no! I fought my whole life trying to stay alive!’ My heart was BROKEN.”
‘What’s wrong with her?’ I’d sit in the corner and draw for hours. I always knew something was different about me.’: Woman shares autism diagnosis journey, ‘Different is beautiful’
“People would say hello to me, and I’d ignore them. There’s a myth black girls don’t have autism, so they didn’t think to test me. I was called crazy, moody, shy, or a brat, but I was far from any of those things.”
‘Everything looked normal to the surgeon.’ I felt helpless. My fight to find what was wrong was nowhere near over.’: Woman finally diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, ‘Be your own advocate’
“I woke up in the recovery room. ‘Did they find anything?’ My heart broke when the tests came back clear. I’d been relying on this surgery to give me answers. My body was struggling.”
‘Our journey to become parents was heartbreaking. I seemed to find every pregnant woman on the planet. I had to save my sanity.’: Mom shares healing through meditation, ‘Find what brings you JOY’
“I threw myself into working, scouring the internet for infertility stories, scrolling Instagram mindlessly. I knew I needed help to bring myself out of the fog. But what I actually learned was to let go.”
‘3…2…1.’ Darkness. I awoke to women in overalls. ‘Do you know where you are Mrs. Knowles? Elvis didn’t make it. Would you like to see him?’ I just wept and nodded.’: Mom to angel baby details journey, ‘Grief is love with nowhere to go’
“Empty-eyed, my husband wheeled a grey bassinet into the room. ‘I’m sorry. So, so sorry.’ I’d spent the last 2 years teaching women how to birth babies, yet I couldn’t. Elvis was cold in my arms, but so beautiful. I swore I saw his little chest rise and heard a little grunt, but my mind played tricks on me. I held him as the last pulses of energy left his little body.”
‘Hey look, it’s Two-Face!’ I’d come to school with purple burn dots. I felt like I was going through the pain for others.’: Woman with Sturge Weber Syndrome becomes advocate, ‘We aren’t scary monsters or villains’
“I was held down, screaming for them to stop. With each snap, a dot was burned onto the skin to break up the blood vessels of the birthmark. It was then I walked away from the world of wanting to look like everyone else.”
‘I ran barefoot down the street. My little boy was lying in the road. He looked so precious, like he was sleeping. Then I saw the blood.’: 12-year-old suffers traumatic brain injury, ‘He’s our miracle’
“I ran out to the helipad. I could see his sweet little nose, the dimple in his chin. He had dried blood on the side of his face but he looked peaceful. ‘Baby, you’re going to be okay. Jesus is with you.’ I had faith.”
‘At 18, I nonchalantly said to my friend over dinner, ‘I could always have a baby on my OWN.’ I was unlucky in love. Months before graduation, I committed.’: Single mom by choice says ‘this is the best decision I ever made’
“It wasn’t a plan B, it was my dream. The second they placed him on my chest, my world forever changed.”
‘Your chance of getting pregnant is ZERO.’ I’ve always known my life would look different. Miracle upon miracle happened. There it was, a beating heart.’: Mom of 6 says ‘there’s beauty in the scars’
“Her mother’s uterus had ruptured. The paperwork said, ’Severe brain trauma.’ She was a promise fulfilled. 2 years later, I got a call about an abandoned baby boy. We never left his side. Saying ‘yes’ to hard things keeps the world moving.”