“My hips started hurting, which I’d never felt before. I used painkillers and energy drinks to get through. The pain was unmatched. ‘It’s finally happening.’ I knew this was going to change my life.”
‘I can pull her arm out of the socket. I can put my finger in.’ He examined me, muttering, ‘Oh wow.’: Student diagnosed with Hypermobility Syndrome, ‘I’m proud of my invisible illness’
‘Miranda, stop it. You can’t be in that much pain. You’re being a killjoy. Knock it off.’ I was popping Advil. I lost all feeling in my leg.’: Teen battles Ewing’s Sarcoma after being written off, ‘I am a survivor, not a statistic’
“I was 15 and no one took me seriously. One day, the neurologist came back in and said, ‘Miranda, there’s no easy way to say this. We found something in your spine.’ Panic. Blackness. I nearly passed out. I was treated without any consent, which still haunts me to this day. I was hallucinating for 36 hours straight.”
‘Today my little sister received her school yearbook. She was intentionally left out due to her differences in ability.’: Sister to student with Down syndrome advocates for inclusion, ‘There is no excuse’
“Since the 2,500+ students and faculty didn’t get the honor of seeing Glenda’s yearbook photo, at least the internet can.”
‘My parents detonated a bomb inside our tiny, thatched roof hut. I was supposed to die that night.’: Adopted bomb survivor now hopeful paralympic swimmer, ‘I’m so thankful for the opportunities this life has given me’
“A woman with 6 children had a strong feeling a child was missing from their family and they were supposed to adopt. A week later, they were told a horrific story of a baby in Vietnam who had survived a bomb blast. It was as if we had both been waiting for each other thousands of miles apart.”
‘I became a jail wife overnight. I was judged and ridiculed for standing by a man who made a mistake.’: ‘Jail wife’ starts community to write letters to inmates, ‘I believe in second chances’
“Friends and family dropped off like dead flies. That’s when I decided I would become the jail wife who helps these inmates, not the cop-bashers wife who should hide with shame. We all make mistakes, these men or women were just caught.”
‘He was dying before my eyes. Doctors said, ‘He must be teething.’ He cried for 18 hours a day.’: Mom births baby with rare neurodegenerative disease, ‘Listen to your gut’
“The doctor glanced at my son’s chart, looked up at me, and said, ‘I’m going to go get you in to see the best pediatrician we have.’ I remember running into her arms saying, ‘Thank you. Thank you for finding something.’”
‘She was a ticking time bomb. ’Was this my fault? It could be the last time we’d see her.’: 4-month-old with Williams Syndrome survives open heart surgery, ‘She is our perfect daughter’
“I still had the ‘it won’t happen to me’ mentality. When I saw the cardiologist’s number pop up on the phone, I started sweating. For 10 hours, my husband and I sat in the parking garage of the hospital, crying.”
‘His heart kept stopping. It was as though I was adrift at sea, waiting for a life vest.’: Mom births baby with Down syndrome who has open heart surgery, ‘I’ll spend the rest of my life shouting his worth from the rooftops’
“The first 36 hours of my son’s life were some of the worst of mine. I wanted to turn back the clock and return back to my normal life. In that hospital room, it felt as though nothing would ever feel normal again.”
‘Come on,’ we whispered, willing life into our soundless baby. We took lessons on bringing him home to die.’: Woman loses son to sepsis, ‘Grief taught me the enormity of love’
“First came silence, then fear. We watched helplessly as the nurse administered oxygen. We attempted to rock our baby into heaven. But life had another plan. Now I understand why it’s called The Miracle of Life.”
‘Jack was screaming for over 10 hours, no tears. ‘Did you forget how to hold a baby?’ The nurse took him out of my arms.’: Mom advocates for son with rare epilepsy after multiple misdiagnoses
“A tight smile on my face and a pang in my heart, I joked along, but something felt off. His painful cries stopped, and his little body became rigid with eyes that would no longer focus. I was done trying to not be the overly sensitive mom – it was time to sound some alarms. After only knowing our son for 5 short days, he was taken away on a helicopter in critical condition.”
