“‘This is not normal period pain.’ I stopped working, stopped going out, and stopped talking to anyone.”
‘It felt like razor blades in my uterus. ‘I NEED pain medication!’ I thought I was going to throw up.’: Nonverbal woman with cerebral palsy shares journey with endometriosis
‘He popped my hip out with a simple tap of his finger. I believed I’d always live in pain.’: Chronic illness warrior ‘thankful’ for journey
“The doctor came in. ‘How many broken bones do you think you have?’ Then he laughed and said, ‘You’re completely fine.’ I doubted my own body, thinking my pain was all in my head.”
‘She just doesn’t want to go to school.’ At 18, I became a single mom living with undiagnosed pain.’: Chronic illness warrior becomes advocate with son’s help, ‘I couldn’t live without him’
“I had 9 months symptom-free. ‘I wish I didn’t have to give you this diagnosis.’ I felt like my life was ending.”
‘Only middle-aged men get that disease.’ I was only 22 and my body was falling apart.’: Woman with Ankylosing Spondylitis becomes wellness life coach
“On days I didn’t work, I spent the whole day on the couch. When I managed to get to the grocery store, I felt like a robot that had powered down. My brain just didn’t work.”
‘They asked, ‘Does she taste salty?’ Panic began to sink in.’: Mom says daughter’s cystic fibrosis is ‘a mama’s worst nightmare’
“If you kissed Alexis on the forehead and licked your lips, it would taste like the ocean. All the blood drained from my face.“
‘I had a once in a lifetime, freak emergency. When I tell doctors what happened, they don’t believe me.’: Chronic illness warrior urges ‘hold on to joy’
“I had severe pain on my right side that wouldn’t go away. I was taken to the ICU, where the fight of my life began. I was hospitalized for over 40 days while they tried to save me.”
‘I stood in my kitchen in stunned silence. My boyfriend mopped up the blood.’: Woman diagnosed with rare autoimmune disease
“My face was the size of a jackfruit. I gasped for breath simply walking down a hall. The inflammation was so extreme the imaging was obscured by a sea of white, caused by bleeding in my skull.”
‘Tina, you’re sick, like lifelong sick. This is a bad idea.’: Lupus warrior quits narcotics after 9 years, ‘I turned my anger into courage’
“The doctor clearly stated, ‘Though I am proud of you, I feel this is a huge mistake.’ I didn’t care. I was brave, different, one of a kind.”
‘My first full sentence was, ‘My back hurts.’ I can’t imagine how heartbreaking that was for my mom.’: Chronic illness warrior says ‘I am brave and strong’
“I asked daily, ‘Why me?’ I was so frustrated and angry at the world. I didn’t understand why I had to endure this much pain and trauma.”
‘I was found passed out in the bathroom, too dehydrated and malnourished for them to get an IV in.’: Chronic illness warrior shares diagnosis journey
“I was terrified I was dying. I started making a plan in case I didn’t wake up. I wrote letters to friends and family members for my husband to pass on when I died.”
