“In the middle of our conversation, a woman walked up and stood before us. She had tears in her eyes. She simply asked for a favor. ‘We have to leave, and I was wondering if you guys could launch ours for us.’ She didn’t say why she chose us.”
‘I quickly read it, a tribute to ‘Trenton.’ He was 21 when he died, just a week ago. I instinctively asked her what happened. He had drowned. My heart broke for this woman.’
‘I was asked if I had any questions. All I could manage to mumble was, ‘Will I lose my hair?’ I was 16. I was in high school. I was a girl. I couldn’t be bald. I just couldn’t.’
“Three words. That’s all it took. Three simple words. Everything was happening too fast. I just sat there, staring at the wall, trying not cry. When homecoming came, I had this beautiful red dress. I put on heels, makeup. Then I looked in the mirror and crumbled to the ground. What was I thinking? I looked ridiculous. I looked sick.”
‘I sat in the waiting room, eager for my big sigh of relief. It didn’t come. Like many of us, I thought I had all the time in the world. Then, I received the blow most of us fear. My heart sank.’
“I didn’t have the symptoms or risk factors. Everyone said, ‘It’s probably nothing.’ I walked up to my husband, tears in my eyes, in total shock. I worried I’d never get to see my children grow up. The fear of the unknown started taking over.”
‘I snapped a photo of my daughter on the exam table, bragging about my healthy girl. ‘Come feel this,’ the doctor said. I put my hand on her belly. My heart sank.’
“We were about to walk out the door with a good bill of health when the doctor asked me if I had any concerns. That’s when I remembered her large tummy. He immediately laid her down on the exam table and began feeling around on her belly. His face quickly changed to concern. I looked at my husband and said, ‘This can’t be good.’”
‘After the diagnosis, we found out we were pregnant. It sent chills down my spine. All I could think was, ‘We don’t have enough time! How am I supposed to raise my children without him?’
“We were excited and broken. For much of my pregnancy, I struggled knowing that my baby would never meet the greatest man ever. He had this thing where he nicknamed each child on delivery day. Pistol, Bullet, Slug, and Cricket. There was so much anticipation for him to walk into that delivery room and call him by his ‘name’.”
‘We were celebrating 3 years of marriage. I thought life couldn’t get any better. When I laid down, I got news no one wants to hear. I ran to the bathroom and hovered over the toilet, dry heaving.’
“Tears rolled down my face. I went to lie down again and the entire sequence replayed itself. I could hardly believe it. Just like that, we transitioned from ‘recently married’ to ‘patient and caregiver’ and there was no stopping it. We began writing funeral plans.”
‘I was 25, pregnant with twins, and had a 21-month-old son. After the babies were born, I noticed what I thought was a Clogged Milk Duct from breastfeeding. Then my life turned upside down.’
“I was using a breast pump, and noticed a lump. I shrugged it off. I took an electric toothbrush, holding it on the lump trying to break it up. I was stressing about being able to breastfeed two little humans. The office was empty. Everyone had left except for the doctor who was about to read the results. All I could say was, ‘What??’”
‘She could not have been more perfect. When she died unexpectedly 2 months later, I thought my heart stopped with hers.’
“Three months after my love proposed to me, I found a lump. I was told I was ‘lucky’ because I had the ‘good kind’ of cancer. It was a hugely insensitive thing to say. My friends were buying homes, getting promotions, having children – and I’m the ‘lucky’ one?”
‘In tears, my husband handed me a small paper. ‘Please don’t take my baby!’ My stomach twisted into a giant knot. Our world totally flipped upside down.’
“I had so many questions, but all I wanted to do was hold her and sob. ‘She’s just 16 and in this much pain?’ I looked at my sweet, beautiful girl and could not believe it. After blood work and an x-ray, we learned the fateful news.”
‘Passenger 2C stomped onto the plane. He should have worn a sign that read, ‘Do you know who I am?’ Did you really have to throw your foot on the armchair? Darn. So sorry.’
“I have finally figured out why I was so mad at him, and why my heart was so full of hate. Passenger 2C, I’m sorry I said mean things. If I hadn’t been making fun of you, I would have doubled over in my seat sobbing.”
