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‘My daughter came home from preschool different. She was biting herself. She stopped speaking, sleeping, playing with toys. I could no longer write it off.’ Mom receives Rett Syndrome diagnosis, told it’s ‘one of the most severe cases’

“I get a call from the geneticist. The call drops 3 separate times. The most important call of our life and I miss it. I sit and wait. My phone rings again. He says, ‘Genetics just confirmed Evie has Rett Syndrome.’ He says, ‘There’s no cure. We can’t change it. You can’t do anything.’ My heart sank. This was serious.”

By Becky Balfe

‘After 3 miscarriages, I was told I was ‘selfish’ to want more kids. ‘You have 2 babies. You no longer have a right to try.’ I felt hopeless, shameful.’: Woman explains how her marriage grew stronger the ‘year she lost 3 babies’

“When we lost our first baby, it felt more like a fluke. When we lost our second baby, it no longer felt normal; it felt like my fault. I was afraid of what it would do to my relationship. Would he blame me? Was I letting him down? Did he CARE? Those questions became my insecurities.”

By Sophia San Filippo

‘My daughter said ‘Daddy!’ the first time she met him. I was mortified. I thought my abusive past would be a deal breaker.’: Stepdad adopts wife’s 3 kids after her abusive relationship, loves them ‘unconditionally’ as his own

“When I met Brian, I was a healing domestic abuser survivor with 3 little babies from my abuser. Brian and I worked together, and I flirted, but got nothing from him. I thought maybe he had a girlfriend and thought I was a crazy person. I built up the courage to ask him on a date. As he walked to the table, I knew I had to tell him everything I’d been through.”

By LJ Herman

‘Mommy, is this baby going to die?’ It caught me off guard, as if the wind was knocked out of me.’: Mom eases daughter’s mind about this ‘healthy’ baby after losing her brother, sister in NICU as micropreemies

“I gently hugged my daughter. To be honest, it’s a question I’ve thought about daily for months. That’s the fear that comes with pregnancy after loss. I looked at her and smiled through tears. ‘She’s very healthy,’ I told my brave little girl. ‘That’s because Parker and Abby sent her to us,’ I said.”

By Eliza Murphy

‘She’s going to die soon. I’m just dating her out of pity.’ He had a girlfriend in another state. He was a horrible man.’: Single mom finds courage to leave abusive husband, new fiancé, to be ‘strong, thriving’ for 4-year-old son

“He took me out. We drank too much. I woke up the next morning in shock. I didn’t remember consenting to anything. We found out I was pregnant and I was terrified. Everything inside me was saying to detach from my son’s father. Instead, we did ‘the right thing’ and got married.”

By Eliza Murphy

‘Shut up. Just let me finish.’ I lay there, weak, my best friend’s hand over my mouth.’: After years of denial, sexual abuse survivor accepts it wasn’t her fault

“I’ll never forget his words. There were no warning signs. No grooming. I remember wanting to scream, but not feeling like I could talk, so I made a mumbling noise. I didn’t want my body. I wanted to take it off like a jacket, but I couldn’t. I woke up the next morning with a huge bump on my head, my underwear backwards. I never wanted to be the girl who was raped.”

By Sophia San Filippo

‘Girls shouldn’t play baseball. Stick to softball.’ The coach suddenly cut our daughter from the team.’: 7-year-old girl, MVP player gets dropped from baseball team after ‘advanced plays’

“Our daughter Ashlynn was MVP. Shortly after, the coach moved her to the bottom of the batter order. When we showed up at the next tryout, the team had already been selected without her. And the next tryout. It was so unfair what was happening. If we told her, we knew it would change how much she loved baseball.”

By Sophia San Filippo
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