“My determination isn’t disabled, my fire isn’t disabled, but my body is. For a long time, this was hard to admit. I do my best to show up every day, but it’s not always enough. I can practically smell the resentment from my coworkers. My boss stopped believing me and asked for a ‘doctor’s note.’ Instead, I ended up hospitalized. ‘Is this good enough?’ I snarkily asked. I know I should keep my mouth shut, but I really can’t help myself. The struggle is REAL.”
‘I’m often mistaken for being lazy or spoiled. The dirty looks I get would shock you. I may look like a typical 23-year-old, but I’m not.’: Woman with multiple ‘invisible’ chronic illnesses refuses to let struggles ‘overcome her joy’
‘I walked to the bathroom leaving a trail of blood. I had an ultrasound. They found retained placenta.’: Woman endures difficult pregnancy aftermath, discovers son has a cow’s milk protein allergy
“My son was vomiting and having crazy amounts of diarrhea for days. As I was unpacking his daycare bag, he was standing beside me crying. Next thing I know, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out. I now have a 2-year-old with multiple chronic allergies and an 8-week-old heading in the same direction.”
‘My daughter was fed a cashew. She had itchy ears within 5 minutes, but was still playing. It all changed moments later. They laid her down quickly, and she started blacking out.’
“It snuck up on us so unexpectedly and quietly. I expected to see choking, gasping, hear wheezing, see her grabbing at her chest and neck area. It was actually very silent.”
‘She ate less than a bite of hummus before her 1st birthday and ended up with swollen eyelids and face, hives all over her body, projectile vomiting, and extreme drowsiness.’
“The scariest moments of my life so far have been seeing my baby having this reaction. Knowing this could happen again, and possibly with a worse outcome is terrifying.”
‘I don’t know why your husband’s in pain, he has no meningitis.’ I’ll never forget when the nurse angrily said this to me when I told her my husband said his head feels like it’s on fire.’
“When I got back nurses and doctors were running in his room, yelling ‘code blue!’ I wasn’t allowed in the room – they were intubating him. I felt like someone kicked me in the stomach. I was sobbing.”
‘Not everyone knows what the TEAL PUMPKIN is. It lets trick-or-treaters with allergies know you have stuff for them.’ Mom’s important reminder this Halloween season
“There are kids out there that can’t even have candy. As a kid with a nut allergy, I really encourage everyone to put out the teal pumpkin.”
‘From 100% healthy to having her eyes swollen and blistered shut’: Parents share urgent warning about children’s makeup kit
“We never imagined after spending the day applying it to her eyes and lips that our worst nightmare would come true.”
