“My boyfriend heard a loud crash. ‘Dana, are you alright?!’ No response. He rushed in thinking our shower curtain simply fell. It did. But me with it. I began to choke as he rolled me on my side and stuck his fingers in my mouth. My guard was down. I woke up in the back of an ambulance.”
‘I got in the shower. ‘Dana, are you alright?’ My boyfriend heard a loud crash. He rolled me on my side, stuck his fingers in my mouth.’: Woman with epilepsy explains how she has ‘cheated death’ countless times
‘I gave birth to my son while high on methamphetamine. I wish I could tell you I sobered up, but I did not. We were joined at the hip. We were both addicts, but wanted to be sober.’
“I was so afraid. I just knew CPS was going to take him, but a miracle happened. He was born completely clean. No drugs in his system. He was perfectly healthy. Neal and I cried and cried. We went home that following Monday and swore we would stay sober.”
‘You are a 13-year-old girl with a sick dad, you must just want attention.’ I was heartbroken, betrayed by my best friends. There were YEARS of doctors saying, ‘We don’t have an answer why she’s in pain.’
“Can you imagine being 15 with a cane in high school? I was called ‘the blue cripple’ because my cane was aqua blue. My Spanish teacher saw my cane for the first time and yelled, ‘YOU HAVE A WALKING STICK? OH MY GOD!’”
‘On my birthday, my husband drank too much. He started calling me his ‘future ex-wife’ in front of all my friends. Something felt off, but I ignored my gut. It was the worst mistake of my life.’
“He’d been acting strangely and kept telling me, ‘You deserve better.’ That was the first clue. I had no idea what sparked this until the next morning when I jumped out of bed with my heart in my throat. Before I knew it, a ‘Take my Ex’s Stuff Yard Sale’ was in full effect.”
‘What mother does that? Have some decency!’ He was screaming for milk and I hurried to lift my top. Another said, ‘Do you think she knows who the father is?’ I was mortified.’
“I remember thinking, ‘Did I do something wrong?’ Neither of them directly spoke to me. They made no point in hiding their conversation. ‘I hate when women seek attention. It’s like, that’s how she got into this mess to begin with.'”
‘If you’re not busy on Monday, you can come see me in the hospital?’ We left our info with this stranger. He showed up for 6 hours, talking and calming us down.’: Mom touched by waiter’s outstanding act of kindness
“He stood in that ICU waiting for Tommy to open his eyes so he could fulfill his promise to an 8-year-old boy he did not know. THANK YOU IS NOT ENOUGH.”
‘I still remember the text I sent my husband. ‘Do you want TWO babies?’ Boy, girl, black, biracial, a year apart, biologically shared one parent. My voice trailed off.’
“When I saw my son-to-be’s date of birth, I choked back tears. To understand why, I need to rewind. My husband was feeling run down. It was sudden and pronounced fatigue, odd for an avid cyclist. At 32 years old, he was fit. We both shrugged it off. I promised our kids we wouldn’t be gone long.”
‘It’s going to be okay. I’m here,’ she said into my hair, holding me tight. A perfect stranger was rocking me like a child in the airport.’: Woman recalls stranger’s act of kindness after brother dies in tragic accident
“‘Your brother was kite-surfing. They don’t know what happened.’ I fell utterly to pieces. I found a quiet gate down the concourse and slumped down with my suitcase and a massive jumble of airport toilet paper. Opening my eyes, I saw a beautiful woman. She simply opened her arms.”
‘Your dad is going to die. This is a gut-wrencher. You will adopt a child. He will be your brother – the 4th child your dad has with his new wife.’
“Your dad’s wife will die unexpectedly of a drug overdose, followed by your dad to cancer just days later. Before your dad dies, he will sign over custody to you. You will fight tooth and nail through the courts for this child. This is your rock bottom.”
‘We swiped right. She was heading on a huge trip. My first thought was: SHE’S ADVENTUROUS. Then she asked me if I’d join. My second thought was: SHE’S CRAZY.’
“Nevertheless, I booked all my flights. We had a match. We spent every single day together. It could have gone awry, but it didn’t. It became clearer that, ‘If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it.’ So I did.”
‘Whatever. Clearly it’s the police officer’s fault.’ I crawled out the sunroof knowing my parents would murder me.’: Woman finds sobriety after 11 years of alcoholism, now ‘the person drunk me desperately wanted to be’
“Stressful day? Wine, please! Getting married? Drinks on me! Someone died? Dang, let me buy you a beer. Relationship problems? Shots! Sunday Funday. Manic Monday. Tipsy Tuesday. Whiskey Wednesday. Thirsty Thursday. 16 years old was the first of my many nights sleeping in a bathroom, remembering nothing. It didn’t stop for 11 years.”
‘The guy who brought me to the party passed out. I should have left him, but I’m a loyal person. I fell asleep and was awoken by a man’s body on top of mine. I couldn’t move and yelled for help.’
“I remember telling my mom, ‘I would die if something happened to you.’ She always reassured me, ‘I’m not going anywhere Erica.’ I whole-heartedly believed she would live forever. Then she started complaining of severe headaches. Selfishly, I thought, ‘Well if God took my Grannie, he can’t take my mom too.'”
‘My wife must regret spending her life with me. If she met someone different, she’d have perfectly healthy children,’ I told myself. ‘He is one of 34 people known to have this.’ My heart sank. ‘What? In the country?’ ‘No, in the world.’
“I remember thinking, ‘Maybe we just aren’t the best of parents.’ Little did I know my wife was secretly researching and had discovered a condition. One day, she showed me a video. My heart sunk. I felt dizzy. Straight away, I knew this was what our boy had.”
‘A manager told me there was a noise complaint of a baby crying. ‘He did not cry, he giggled twice.’ I was told I immediately had to pack up to leave.’: Special needs mom outraged at discrimination in movie theater
“Kristopher looked at me and said, ‘Mom why did we have to leave?’ ‘Are you kidding me? He did absolutely nothing.’ Then she says, ‘Well, can you come another day to see it?’ I looked at her. ‘I work full time. Do you realize what an achievement it is for me to take my boys to see this? I don’t understand why I am being kicked out. Are you serious?'”
‘I cheated on you with a woman I met at the gym. She has a daughter, and I’m her father.’: Woman learns to ‘truly forgive’ after husband’s infidelity left her ‘hurt, betrayed’
“If you had told me 4 years ago I would be sitting in a waiting room with my husband, my children and his affair partner, I would have laughed in your face and called you a liar. But here I am, sitting in a waiting room, preparing for my eldest daughter, my husband’s daughter, to go back for surgery.”
‘What did I do wrong to cause this sweet blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy to suffer like this?’ He woke up so smiley that morning. My husband and I were silent. ‘It’s time,’ the team said. The doors shut behind him.’
“Ten minutes went by…then 30 …then 45. I was in a total panic. Instead of the screen showing he was waking up from anesthesia, it said he was still in the O.R. There was a look of concern in his surgeon’s eyes. ‘For some reason, half of his skull expanded faster than the other.'”
‘I don’t know her name, but she was our hero on our flight home.’: Special needs mom touched by flight attendant’s act of kindness
“He had a sudden meltdown and we couldn’t keep him calm no matter what we tried. This flight attendant asked if she could hold him. I warned her he might get aggressive and try to gouge her eyes.”
‘I immediately began to hyperventilate. ‘Mrs. Ramsammy, we’ve got two brothers in need of a home tonight. They are 4 months and 15 months. Are you able to take them?’
“She told me their names, and I gasped and yelled, ‘You’re kidding right??’ Probably not a response she was expecting. Like what are the chances of that??”
‘I will never forget the phone call. I couldn’t bring myself to answer. My heart was being torn from my chest. It was a friend, expressing her sorrow over my loss.’
“By sobbing uncontrollably, she did just that.”
‘When I was 19 I woke up screaming in pain, as if I was in labor. A million knives were stabbing my stomach. I tried to get to the bathroom, but I couldn’t stand. It became a regular occurrence.’
“I was told it was ‘just the pill’ or ‘just a bad period’ and it was ‘nothing to worry about.’ One doctor told me it was ‘just arthritis’ in my back from being a dancer. I’d never have another boyfriend because one guy had already gotten angry at me for bleeding on his bed sheets.”
‘No, Mommy! I don’t need a potty!’ The kids erupted in giggles. I should’ve been suspicious LONG before. Holland had been consuming juice boxes and popsicles for HOURS, y’all.’
“I go full-fledged panic mode. Something is amiss. I can smell it. Holland: ‘I DONT NEED A POTTY!’ Ben: ‘BAHAHAHAHAHHAA! She doesn’t need a potty, Mom! Our clubhouse ALREADY HAD a potty!’ Golden Retriever: *whimpering slightly* I climb up the ladder. My children are pointing to… A dog bowl.”
‘Momma, why can’t I walk like my friends?’ His legs were sticking straight up in the air, unable to bend. A lady in Walmart was staring long and hard.’
“His 6-year-old brother stepped in. He said, ‘What’s wrong? Haven’t you ever seen a kid in a wheelchair?’ I’ve lost count of the number of times a parent has told their children, ‘Stay away from that child!'”
‘She knew she was going to die. I was ashamed. It was embarrassing to say, ‘this is my sister and she is a heroin addict.’
“I lived by the, ‘it doesn’t happen to normal middle class families.’ I was wrong. CPS was involved and Ryder was placed in their custody. After a long conversation with my husband we knew we had to get involved for Ryder.”
‘You’re the kind of woman I always wanted. If you weren’t my daughter, I would marry you.’: Woman overcomes father’s sexual abuse, ‘My past doesn’t define me’
“My father made me feel guilty about it. He said I would destroy our family. That he would get deported to Mexico and my family would lose everything we worked so hard for. He told me to say I made it up because I was a rebelling teenager angry at my father. So I lied to them, I told them exactly what he told me to say.”
‘He said, ‘You can look like a wholesome American beauty, or you can look weird and androgynous. We want to wipe all of the wholesomeness out of you.’
“I started counting every calorie, I ignored my hunger, and I’d work out without eating much or anything after. I’d weigh myself whenever I could sneak into my parent’s bathroom. The scale dictated my happiness, the size of my clothes measured my worth. Hopefully I can sustain this starving myself thing for the next ten-ish years, I’d think to myself.”