“I was scared boys wouldn’t want to date me because of my arm, and I was scared of going in public because I did not want strangers to ask questions. I remember one time a kid got angry with me and said, ‘You one-armed freak!’ It hurt. People would say, ‘You are so brave! You are so inspiring!’ It was annoying! I wasn’t doing anything different than the other children.”
‘How dare she take away my unique quality?’ I was the ‘girl with one arm.’ I was MORE popular.’: Young woman with missing arm always embraced her difference, ‘My sparkle is who I am on the inside’
‘You have a better chance at winning the lottery than surviving this tumor.’ I was ready to give up.’: Woman survives ‘rare tumor’ despite all odds, now a ‘happy, free’ amputee
“My leg was a dead weight. I asked to have it removed and I was told it was ‘too drastic.’ I electively removed it myself and my life did a 180. I went from thinking ‘this is the best it’s going to get’ to ‘this is the best decision I’ve ever made.’ My only regret? I didn’t do it sooner.”
‘Why am I doing this?’ I couldn’t run at the park or playground. I hid my pain from my parents for years. When I spoke to them, they were shocked.’ Man surprises parents with life-changing decision
“I was nervous but excited. I didn’t want to say no to a challenge. I was determined to train for the marathon, even though I’m convinced the universe was trying to stop me. Even if I needed to walk or crawl, I was crossing that line!”
‘I don’t want to be here! People get bad news in these rooms!’ My son’s leg was rapidly turning black.’: Mom shocked by horrific diagnosis after being told it was a ‘regular bug’
“I don’t remember the drive there. The social worker walked us back past a room with 15 doctors spilling out into the hallway. ‘Jonathin was fine an hour ago. There’s no way he’s dying!’ This is the kind of story you see on the news and then you go on with your life. To say I was in shock is an understatement. ‘Your son is the sickest kid in this hospital right now.'”
‘A nurse approached me. ‘You’re going in now.’ I could see my mother’s eyes watering. Terrified, I took one final glimpse at my leg. I didn’t expect what was coming next.’
“They took me away. Everything felt weird. I put on a brave face. It was going to be my first ever surgery, and it was a BIG one. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. Watching my mother accept that her oldest son was going to have his leg cut off was heart-breaking for me.”
‘Thinking she had the flu, we took our little girl to the hospital. She was minutes away from dying. ‘She won’t make it through the night,’ the doctor said. She turned to me. ‘Mom, I can do this!’
“We told the doctor, ‘Do anything you have to in order to save our baby girl!’ The infection spread throughout her tiny body. She is a competitive dancer and her passion is being on the stage. ‘Mom, I am going to dance again!’ She woke up in a coma with her entire body wrapped in white gauze.”
‘Just stay down there, I’ll step over you’. A flippant comment by one of the mothers at swim lessons. I was trying to get to the pool on my bottom, guiding my son. I let her by, but it pushed me further into darkness.’
“I had an accident on a trampoline and broke my leg. Initially I saw it as a small set back and would be back in no time. I’d just gotten married 10 weeks before. The plan was to have children soon, so I wanted to recover as quickly as I could. Unfortunately, that was not the case.”
