“Brittany called to say she had a bad cold. I told her to get some rest. We said ‘I love you’ and I told her the twins were doing fine. At 8:30 a.m. we received a call from her husband. ‘It’s Britt! They’re lifeflighting her.’ At the hospital, she was just lying there, the ventilator breathing for her. ‘Please come back to us. Your babies need you.’ I held her hand. They checked her system for diet pills.”
‘Her body hit the floor. ‘If you want to say goodbye to your daughter, you’d better come now.’ She’d only had a bad cold the day before.’: Mom dies suddenly of congenital cardiac arrythmia, leaves behind twins
‘Danielle. You’re, like, really pregnant!’ I had JUST miscarried. How could I get pregnant TWICE?!’: Woman conceives 2 children naturally after infertility, donates remaining embryos to help another family birth twins
“I came down with a bad cold. I was nauseous and chalked it up to medication, but something inside me said to take the test. ‘PREGNANT.’ I wasn’t convinced. There was barely enough time for my body to naturally miscarry. It didn’t make sense. An ultrasound hours later confirmed the news. ‘You’re 8 weeks!’ We were so happy, but also angry. We had spent thousands of dollars on fertility treatment only to conceive naturally, TWICE.”
‘When will we get our baby brother?’ We needed $4,000 and had no idea how to come up with that money.’: Couple embark on adoption ‘roller coaster,’ community unites to raise money
“We have his room all set up for him. We have clothes, toys, a family waiting for him. All the while, others share their highlight reel of adoption and make it look like a breeze. I want to teach him words, love on him, watch him run around the house and yard with his brother and sister. My heart is aching for him to be with us.”
‘Mom she’s gone, I just know.’ I sat on my stairs with my front door open, in shock.’: How this ‘broken’ mother helps other parents of child loss heal after her own tragedy
“Seeing my sweet baby girl laying in a huge bed, much too big for her, made me fall to my knees. A nurse said to me, ‘Get off the floor, it’s so dirty.’ I was angry at her, I was angry at the hospital chaplain placing his eerie hand on my shoulder with no real comfort. No parent should have to write their child’s eulogy, or decide between a casket or an urn. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.”
‘I was so scared of my daddy dying. I hated watching him throw up and not feel well. I knew in my heart I could help him. I just knew it!’ 10-year-old girl starts ‘secret’ plan to save father’s life
“The weekend before New Year’s, we got the shock of our life. The phone rang. Skeptical, my mom IGNORED it until I convinced her to answer. ‘Could you use a kidney tonight?’ Watching my daddy sit in the dialysis chair 4 days a week and get 2 big needles in his arm made me sad, but I never gave up! I was determined to help him.”
‘They called. My husband thought I was crazy. I hopped on a plane by myself. 1,500 miles from home, I sat on a stretcher, determined to help someone become a mom. I was REALLY doing this.’
“I waited, patiently, for someone that needed me. I honestly never really expected to hear back. Then, it came. Before she was even able to tell me all of the risks associated with the surgery, I knew I was all in. This was my purpose.”
‘You are donating your kidney, correct?,’ the nurse asked. ‘That’s what my kidnappers said,’ I cracked. The color was draining from my face.’
“‘Honey, are you sure you want to do this?’ I was terrified. I hadn’t even started a family. What if I got sick in adulthood? What if my husband did? The drugs were kicking in. My husband’s floating head was the last thing I saw.”
‘I was going to donate to her fund, but I found out her parents are lesbian. Sorry.’ My wife received this horrible message. We were so hurt.’: 2 moms ‘disgusted’ by rude comment after daughter’s Stage 4 Neuroblastoma diagnosis
“We got a 3D ultrasound to find out the sex. It’s a GIRL! I bought hair bows and tutus. We were beyond excited. She was born perfect and healthy. No one knew she was hiding a secret illness. After realizing our sick child has two mommies, she couldn’t donate.”
‘There are items that are impossible to let go of, even if they are broken. My dad bought them for my children. He died almost 3 years ago.’
“Getting rid of anything he had a hand in giving them seems impossible. It’s like little by little, the things he was a part of die slowly over the years, and I don’t want to aide in that disappearance. Every time I look at it, I think about my dad.”
‘As I read their story, I cried. Not because I was regretting giving ‘my’ babies to someone else, but because I knew they were the ones meant to raise these kids.’
“We didn’t care if he/she was married, their religion, their sexual preference…we just wanted to make sure it was someone who would love these children. It wouldn’t be long before we were matched with someone.”
