“He had recently started taking gummy vitamins and drinking 2-3 glassed of milk each day so he could ‘buff up his bones.’ In that conversation he mentioned the ‘pass out challenge,’ but he did not elaborate, and with much regret, neither did I.”
‘I yelled upstairs for Carson and his brother to come eat. Carson did not answer. This is the second my whole world turned upside down. I screamed. My whole family rushed upstairs.’: Mom loses son to ‘pass out challenge’
‘Evan was suddenly tired. I truly thought he’d caught something in Mexico on our honeymoon. The word was Leukemia.’: Infertile couple adopt son, say he ‘doesn’t carry our blood, but carries our whole heart’
“We were given the news that chemo would cause us infertility. Always being the patient, I’d never known what it meant to be on the other side of it. To watch your loved one suffer and feel so completely helpless your insides were miserably aching. But that was all about to change. How did this happen? What about all our plans and the family we were going to have? I was headed down the road to be a widow before we even had a chance to experience marriage.”
‘I was the only one that could protect her, I was the only one that could take care of her, I was the only one that really loved her.’: Sisters fight to stay together as they transition through different foster homes
“Two ladies were standing in the doorway. I questioned how they found out. My father was going to be so angry. I screamed, ‘Where are you taking my sister?!’ Why were they doing this? She was all I had.”
‘I was tired. I was irritated. I sent my husband a text. I was fed up with how much he works, and with all I have to do every day by myself.’: Wife realizes she should really feel ‘thankful’ for husband
“The full-time job, cooking dinner, bathing kids, weekend trips without him, keeping up a home. You name it, I was resenting it. Then this happened.”
‘There’s a Christmas tree. There’s a gingerbread man.’ But it’s what she said next that took my breath away. ‘And there’s Parker,’ my daughter recited.’
“As I looked at the plate of cookies, sure enough, there was a cookie angel I had decorated. I smiled at my daughter as my eyes welled up with tears.”
‘YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS.’ I decided enough was enough.’: Single teen mom of special needs child details journey
“Now I was really scared. Here I am, 19 years old, with a kid – a special needs kid at that – and totally alone.”
‘Her eyes were huge, her skull was misshapen. Even though we had prepared ourselves as best as we could, it was still a shock to see Emmy in the flesh.’: Mom gives birth to baby with Pfeiffer Syndrome
“My honest thought when I first saw her was, ‘It wasn’t supposed to be this bad.’ Our doctor didn’t say anything. The nurses were silent. Emmy was silent. It was eerie and terrifying. We know she will always look different and will face bullies in her lifetime, but our goal is to always show her how loved she truly is.”
Love What Matters Makes The 2018 Chartbeat List Of Most Engaging Stories – Twice
In February, we launched Love What Matters with the dream of building a community around hope, support, compassion, healing and kindness. From day one, you embraced us with open arms, learning, opening up and connecting with one other. Today, we’re proud Love What Matters has two stories on the 2018 Chartbeat List of Most Engaging …
18 Things I Learned About Life After My Grandfather’s Death
“Say the nice stuff, the uplifting stuff, the encouraging stuff, the emotional stuff. Pick up the phone. Start texting. Drive to their house.”
‘Mommy, when will I have a sister?,’ she asked. As my eyes welled up with tears, I said, ‘I don’t know honey. You’ll have to talk to God about that.’
“Although I was pregnant with what I believed to be a baby girl, I knew I wouldn’t be for much longer. Shortly before dropping my daughter off at school that morning, my water had broken.”