“My mom was digging at his grave with her hands and yelling towards the ground and crying. Her nails began to tear back and nearly bleed. I didn’t know how to accept that the world wasn’t crying with me.”
‘You are my strength,’ my mother told me. Every single morning for two years, she screamed and sobbed, and I calmed her down.’: Woman candidly shares her grief over sibling loss
‘From birth, he began growing in length and weight. Judgement was cast from others who’d never seen anything like our boy before. Doctors were hitting dead ends.’: Bardet Biedl warrior diagnosed after 5-year quest for answers
“One day I went to grab the mail, only to find a surprise letter that took me off my guard. I immediately scanned the letter with my phone app and emailed it to his primary care pediatrician. ‘Am I reading what I think I am?’ Literally in shock, after over 1826 days, I was holding a letter that confirmed Joshua, our boy.”
‘He said they were ‘non-symptomatic.’ I was sent off feeling relieved it wasn’t worse—if only I knew.’: Woman shares journey with Tarlov Cyst Disease to raise awareness
“When I woke up, I had lost sensation completely in my left leg, and I lost control of my bladder. The pain was excruciating.”
‘We can’t see any arms.’ I was chasing shadows and clinging to hope there was a mistake.’: Mom gives birth to son with TAR Syndrome, ‘No arms? No problem!’
“Why does EVERYTHING have sleeves? The feeling of being inadequate hit me like a freight train. I didn’t sleep. I didn’t eat. ‘How are we supposed to raise a child with no arms?’”
‘When it was my turn to play dress-up, they paused. ‘Oh, Liz, there aren’t any princesses left.’ My confidence was shattered.’: Woman with GoldenHar Syndrome advocates for facial equality
“The blonde girl was Cinderella, the brunette was Belle. ‘Liz, you can be the mother.’ There was no princess that resembled what I looked like, no role for me to play.”
‘He’s called a hero or a saint, simply for being with me.’: Woman with Osteogenesis Imperfecta advocates for disability awareness
“He doesn’t see ‘past’ my disability because my disability is part of me! He sees it, he sees me, and he loves all of me.”
‘In front of the entire train, he pointed at me and shouted, ‘Look at that freak!’ I broke down into floods of tears.’: Man with cystic hygroma shares self-love journey
“‘You don’t look like the other boys. You look different.’ I was sick of giving power to strangers. It was time to take back control.”
‘The test results are in. I hate to tell you this.’: Mom births rainbow baby with sickle cell disease
“Our tiny baby had an IV in his foot. Watching a team of nurses poke your baby with a needle is such a helpless feeling.”
‘THEY don’t have the muscles to get the right latch.’ He is not a ‘they.’: Mom advocates for son with Down syndrome
“The doctor said, ‘He may go home on oxygen.’ Little did they know the stubbornness I had. The love of a mother determined to get her baby home.”
‘Her legs look shorter than average.’ I brushed it off and laughed.’: Mom births daughter with dwarfism, ‘She’s the miracle I never knew I needed’
“My doctor came in, very somber. ’We’re concerned she has a growth issue.’ When she was welcomed into the world and laid on my chest, everything clicked and I knew.”
