Touching
🤧
‘That’s it, I’m going to write a suicide note and be dead by Monday.’ I’d already attempted once by taking 90 Benadryl.’: 14-year-old describes feeling ‘no one cared,’ his life was ‘worthless’
“I got home and checked an Instagram group chat I was involved in and saw everyone thought I was actually dead for 4 days. It made me sad because at the time I didn’t think anyone cared and I felt everyone would be better off without me.”
‘He never trusted me again. If he called and it rang too many times, I was ‘cheating’ on him.’: Woman vividly recalls the ‘last time he put his hands on me,’ leaves abusive relationship to find true love
“We were introduced through a friend who believed we’d be ‘perfect’ for each other. She invited me to a birthday party he was set to attend. I didn’t plan to stay long, but changed my mind once I met HIM. We talked, laughed and danced for hours. I asked my friend for his number. She obliged. Years later, I wonder if that friend realized it was that moment that changed everything.”
‘I am older than he was when he died. There is nothing more unnatural. He is suspended in time at 45.’: Wife’s emotional reason for not wanting to celebrate birthdays after husband’s death to cancer
“The first birthday I spent with my husband, I turned 16. I remember where we went, what I was wearing. It was the first time he really held my hand. There was something magical about it. It was fall. We were coming out of a hot summer, the night air was cool. There was nobody else I wanted to spend it with than him. The last birthday I spent with him was my 43rd. In the blink of an eye, he was gone. Nothing has been the same since.”
‘Is this the last time I can kiss him?’ I’d just learned my baby had Down syndrome. Now, he was blue, floppy, and not breathing.’: Mom says baby with Down syndrome, heart defects has taught her to ‘focus on the positive things in life’
“5 minutes into our drive, he began crying but stopped. I found it odd. It was a cry I hadn’t heard before. The light turned red, I pulled over. In seconds, I was down on my knees in the middle of the road, holding my floppy baby. ‘God, this can’t be it. Please don’t take my baby away!’ Giving mouth to mouth, I screamed his name for him to wake up. When he ambulance arrived, Noah was going in and out of consciousness.”
‘Is he your first?’ My heart starts racing. My palms go sweaty. It’s a simple question, but I panic.’: Mom of 4 child losses ‘filled with guilt’ over complicated answer in grocery store parking lot
“My son Wyatt waves from the grocery cart. My voice cracks. ‘Yes, he’s our first,’ I muster out. He smiles at us. My eyes tear up and immediately, I’m filled with guilt as I push the cart and walk away. The truth is, the real answer is much too complicated for a stranger. We have 5 children, but he is the first we brought home.”
‘Something awful has happened.’ Family looked, confused. My daughter was being swept away by raging flood waters.’: Mom loses daughter to tragic ‘flood, drowning’ accident after sensing her danger in harrowing moment
“At exactly 4:30 p.m., I can only describe what happened as a rip in reality. ‘We need to find Becca.’ My sister saw my face turn white. Every cell in my body shifted. I drove home in blinding rain. An hour later, I walked into the house to find a detective asking about my daughter’s purse. They were searching for ‘the woman swept away in northern Philly.’ It happened at exactly 4:30 p.m.”
‘I’m too scared to go back,’ I told my mom. His voice paralyzed me. I lived in fear he’d kill my mother.’: 23-year-old adopted by stepfather who ‘never ceased to fight’ for her during childhood trauma with biological dad
“I lived in 2 different worlds. Five days a week I was in a picture-perfect home with a beautiful stay-at-home mom. But the remaining 2 days, I was in survival mode. I remember watching the clock tick by, counting down the time I had left in my safe haven before I’d have to get in the car and enter my second world. My biological dad had trained me well, so I kept his secrets. I’d stare at the window in my bedroom, hands on the frame, trying to build enough courage to slip out of it and run.”
‘Nat, are you pregnant?!’ I was infertile, on birth control, had my period, and broken up with my boyfriend. NO WAY!’: Woman gets pregnant with twins, delivers ‘one to earth, one to heaven’
“The technician said, ‘Well, which news do you want first?’ I immediately freaked out. ‘Breathe, honey. You’re 17 weeks pregnant with twins. Do you want to know the rest?’ I had zero intent of getting pregnant. ‘WHAT?’ ‘Twin boys!’ I called my mom in tears. ‘Please don’t kill me! Don’t hate me!’ The father wanted no part of my pregnancy.”
‘I lost my baby brother to an overdose. My best friend, my 6-foot, green eyed, blonde haired brother.’: Sister describes agony of losing her ‘best friend’ brother after he was sober for a year, ‘I’d give anything to have him back’
“My brother knew he had a problem. He hated it. He hated it so much he stopped it all and moved back home right beside my mom. He told her he wanted to be closer to his family. That he felt so lost without us. He had such a big, kind heart. SO forgiving. Too forgiving. A month before he overdosed, he was baptized. He died with his Bible open right next to him.”
‘You’re in early labor. You’d be crawling on the ground reaching for drugs otherwise.’: Mom encourages women to ‘find their voice’ during childbirth after ‘begging’ husband not to let hospital send her home
“I was given an examination and told I was only 3 centimeters dilated. At this stage I was already starting to feel sweaty and sick at the thought of this pain for days. I couldn’t even fathom it. I thought she had to be joking.”
