“The receptionist sounded confused. ‘You already have an appointment scheduled for today. It’s your post-operation check. How did the surgery go?’ Chills went down my spine. I asked her to keep the appointment, but change it to ‘pregnancy confirmation.’ I can’t believe this.”
‘At 12, my doctor told me I’d still have children, but never went into details. ‘Your doctors never cleaned out your abdomen in surgery.’ I was betrayed.’: Woman shocked by surprise pregnancy after childhood medical issues
‘As painful as this picture is for me to see, it hurts even more this could become ANY ONE OF YOU. I know I’m a lucky one.’
“Why do I show you my face? Why do I show you my pain? Why do I reveal these heart-breaking scars? I’ll tell you why.”
‘I sleep in my contacts all the time and I’ve never had a problem.’ I hear this daily, as an eye doctor. This bacteria can quickly lead to permanent blindness.’
“It takes seconds to remove your contacts but a potential lifetime of irreversible damage if you choose to leave them in.”
‘I thought you would like to meet your children,’ the nurse said with a smile. She handed me a stack of pictures, my first glimpse of my tiny premature babies.’
“I met my son for the first time, thanks to this picture. A picture that was taken by our nurse. She walked in, making the trek from a different building and several floors away. She knew I was too weak to visit the NICU, and hoped seeing my children would help me heal.”
‘It’s May, the month where it all goes down the tubes. I’m here to give you permission to tell all the CRAP to take an actual hike. Hand them lunch money. There is food, and that’s enough.’
“You will mess up. You will forget it’s Dress Like a Lumberjack Day or you will forget your cherub needs a cold drink to enjoy during the ‘special movie reward.’ You are allowed to feel bad for 10 seconds. Then I require you to move on. Your kid is fine.”
‘He continued to call me, begging. The conversations were so strange, I started to record them. ‘I’m so sorry baby, I love you. I want to work this out.’ I ended up moving for my safety.’
“Yesterday was dentist day for me. I sat in the chair anxiously waiting, nervous as hell and scared. I wasn’t scared to see the dentist, but scared to have to explain what had happened.”
‘She won’t make it through the night,’ the doctor said. Minutes from dying, she turned to me. ‘Mom, I can do this!’: Girl contracts Necrotizing Fasciitis, continues passion for dance as amputee
“Thinking she just had the flu, we took her to the hospital. The infection spread throughout her tiny body. She woke in a coma, her entire body wrapped in white gauze. A competitive dancer, she assured us, ‘Mom, I am going to dance again!’ We told the doctor, ‘Do anything you have to in order to save our baby girl!’”
‘He opened his eyes, and held my hand. ‘I love you too, but this is ridiculous.’ He proceeded to remove his oxygen mask. It was such a Dan thing to do, to choose his time.’: Woman loses her husband to cancer
“‘How did you meet Becca?’ I was sitting with my nose in a book when he plopped himself down. ‘Hi, my name is Dan,’ he said, matter-of-factly. I will never forget that night. Little did I know – he’d become my future husband. He passed away just 16 days after we said ‘I do.'”
‘I’m slowly learning I’m not ever going to be the popular girl. I’m not going to be the prettiest, or the loudest, or the life of the party.’: Woman learns to accept herself as is, ‘I’m okay with it’
“I’m not good at small talk, gossip or anything surface-y. I’m not going to be invited on tons of girls’ trips, or Bunco nights, or whatever, but I AM the kind of girl who will answer her phone at 3 a.m. if you need someone to talk to.”
‘I’ve never had real parents before. I’ve waited my entire life to be treated the way y’all treat me.’: Couple adopts 18-year-old who was ‘abandoned by his birth mother with no name’
“‘So you are the people that want teenagers… are you crazy?’ I said, ‘Something like that.’ She replied, ‘Well, I got a phone call in your driveway for a 16-year-old male who needs a home by tonight.’ I told her, ‘Bring him home.’ My husband looked at me like I was crazy. But he agreed. ‘She’s right, bring him home.’”