“I spent far too many moments considering all the ways I could be with my son, in whatever afterlife he exists in. I even shut my own husband out. I was done living like this. I vowed to do better. I don’t know how strong I can stay. I am fragile. But I do know, I am trying.”
‘I was not okay. I had lost my child to death, and I was losing myself to life.’: Mom’s powerful vow to ‘claw her way out’ of ‘the darkness’ after sudden loss of 7-month-old son
‘I saw my kids dead, over and over. It was my constant fear.’: Mom suffers severe PTSD after losing daughter to Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood
“I lived in terror after my daughter died. I had to turn on the light every 5 minutes to check on my kids, because I knew for certain one of them had stopped breathing. I didn’t realize I had PTSD. I just felt like I was losing my mind. I was so stressed, the panic just kept coming. Many people think PTSD only happens to soldiers. It doesn’t.”
‘I glanced at the clock. My heart skipped a beat. 4:58. On this day, at 4:58 a.m., my first daughter was born. Nearly 2 hours later, she passed away.’: Mom recalls tragic day she lost 2 of her triplets
“As she began eating her birthday dessert, my daughter looked at me. ‘How do we get cheesecake to Heaven? I think my brother and sister would like some.’ Through tears, I smiled. Our family is missing two of our children, but it turns out, they are never far away.”
‘I felt pregnant, but the odds were slim. Brad had been declared sterile. No one had ever survived a recurrence from this disease.’: Woman gets pregnant with ‘miracle baby’ despite husband’s terminal cancer diagnosis
“‘Go home and enjoy the time you have left,’ our doctor told us. Brad could not reckon the idea of leaving me as a single mom. But, I could not reckon the idea of not having a piece of him here with me on earth. We decided to take a giant leap of faith.”
‘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.”
‘Your brother is dead. Pick up the phone!’ That was the text my sister sent me. I was studying at the time, thinking I was too busy to chat.’ Brother loses twin to tragic heroin addiction
“During his funeral, one of our friends approached me. ‘Your brother really loved you, you know that?’ I said, ‘Yeah I know.’ He continued, ‘One time I told him I was gonna hang out with you. He got really angry. He told me I better watch my back, and that he’d kill me if I got you to start using, too.’ I almost cried right there.”
‘I walked out of the auditorium and went straight to the bathroom, where I lost my baby.’ Woman has miscarriage as she walks across graduation stage, gets surprise from brother in heaven 1 year later
“The doctors couldn’t pinpoint exactly when my miscarriage would happen, so we decided I would still walk the stage. As I sat in my seat while the president talked to the crowd, everything started happening.”
‘Collapsed? Was this a joke? Who was this man? Then I asked the worst question. ‘Is he breathing?’: Wife’s recalls ‘nagging feeling’ her ‘young, healthy’ husband had before his untimely death
“How does a healthy 31-year-old man who had taken his 2-year-old on a bike ride the night before suddenly collapse 18 hours later? I was asked questions like, ‘How often did David faint?’ or ‘Did his lips ever turn blue?’ Zero. Never. None of that ever happened. But he still had a bad feeling.”
‘He looks oddly pale,’ I said. I thought it was bad lighting. I felt him. Cold as ice. His father slammed the window shut. I couldn’t stop screaming!’
“Our truck had been broken into, so we packed up our son and went to a nearby shop. I took pictures of him sleeping in the car seat as we waited. That night, his father worked overnight. When he came home at 7 a.m., I heard him say the worst words you could ever hear.”
‘I had a great 4th of July. Except for the part where I almost died. I ate macaroni salad. I didn’t realize it was different, until I was SURE I tasted fish. Not just fish, but CRAB. I was convinced of it.’
“My ears started to burn. My lips tingled. My thoughts consumed me. My brain went into overdrive. The voice inside my head started panicking and screaming into my itchy ear, ‘That’s it, you’re gonna die.’ I had to act quickly before my throat closed and my hands seized. Then, I saw it. It took my breath away.”
