“I frantically asked a lady at a kiosk if she had seen my daughter. She looked up at me confused and asked how she got away. Where was I? Why wasn’t her dad watching her? I ignored her questions and told her to call security before I darted away. After an hour of me violently shaking, the guilt set in. The kiosk lady’s words began to repeat in my head.”
‘My daughter darted away in a crowded mall. There was no sign of her.’: Mom terrified after losing daughter in mall, reminds parents ‘how quickly a child can get away’
‘What’s wrong with her fingers?,’ my husband asked. ‘They look strange, but they’re perfect.’ Then he saw her toes.’: Parents surprised by daughter’s Apert Syndrome diagnosis, ‘she just wants to be loved’
“The doctor yelled to get the NICU team as soon as possible. They came in so fast we could hardly get a picture. I don’t remember anything afterwards except that my husband googled her syndrome based on her appearance, and I was left alone in the delivery room. No husband. No baby. I asked for a Diet Coke. They only had Diet Pepsi.”
‘I think I am meant to know you.’ My grandpa didn’t recognize us anymore. This disease transformed him into someone else.’: Woman shares ‘fond memories’ of granddad with Alzheimer’s
“I’d been toying with the idea of having him immortalized on my body. I wanted to keep him close to me, and we all knew how important fishing was to my grandpa. But I had a partner that wouldn’t ‘allow’ me to get tattoos on my body. Luckily, I kept the idea within me until I found true love. Each day I see my tattoo, I am reminded of this huge bond I had with my grandpa.”
‘Hopefully she’ll gain some independence. BUT, but if she doesn’t, she’ll just live with us.’: Parents of daughter with special needs realize they ‘don’t talk about her future’ because it makes it ‘more real’
“We may never grow to be empty-nesters. The words nonchalantly slipped from his lips, but they hit me like a ton of bricks. I’ve never heard him say that. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever said it out loud.”
‘My wife cut her wrists. I’m not ashamed, I’m not embarrassed. This is my wife, and she is dealing with pain.’: Husband unapologetically tells his boss of his wife’s trauma, struggles
“I was a child who was told to shut up when I cried. I learned to suppress deep inside. And it erupted like a volcano. I’m in a hospital bed because what I did was a cry for help.”
‘We left with a box. Not a baby. Not our child. But with a box.’
“I resented that box. I wanted nothing to do with that box. It felt all wrong in my hands, but still I couldn’t put it down.”
‘I gave birth to my sixth baby just six weeks ago. I have porn star-sized boobs as my milk finally came in. I’m wondering if I’ll ever look ‘normal down there’ ever again.’
“We all are so well prepared through pregnancy. Now, it feel like I’m giving birth all over again when I poop. I’m wearing mesh panties and bought more when I ran out of my hospital stash.”
‘School is hard for my daughter who has never made less than an ‘A.’ She practices and prints off extra homework. The thought of failure invokes panic in her busy little mind.’
“I have one child who has brought home a handful of awards year after year, and another who faithfully collects his lone participation certificate. His best will never look like scholar of the year. But success looks different on every child.”
‘I text him. ‘I’m so sorry, do you need me?,’ he asked. ‘No. I don’t need you. You wanted this.’ We’re fighting again. We lay in bed. Our bed. We cry. I cannot give him what he wants.’
“When I get home, all his things are gone. Like he was never there. I don’t make it two steps past the house door. I lay there and I cry. I cannot move. I cannot breathe. I do not want to be here. This is going to kill me.”
‘Excuse me, ma’am. He pooped in the tunnel. We have to get everyone off the playground so it can be sanitized.’ The gentleman’s face was squished in anger and frustration.’
“It was a total blowout, oozing out of his pull-up and straight down his legs. I felt like a bad mom. I bent down to rummage through my bag for wipes. As I stood back up, the man was still there. Still staring.”
