“I was afraid to touch my husband. Nothing could prepare me for seeing my life partner, my love, on a ventilator because of how desperately I wanted to have a baby. This surgery was supposed to ‘help’ us.”
‘In the middle of the night, the doctor said, ‘Ma’am, your husband needs emergency surgery right away.’ I was shaking uncontrollably.’: Couple embrace child-free life after near-death infertility surgery
‘She’s not asleep yet,’ I heard on the operating table. A needle dug into my arm with urgency as an oxygen mask was placed over my mouth.’: Woman survives life-threatening child birth, ‘Life is too short not to show love’
“The nurses wheeled me into the cold, brightly lit operating room. Two days later, I awoke in the ICU surrounded by wires, beeping machines, and a picture of my baby I hadn’t even met. The birth of our first child was also the day I almost lost my life.”
‘I said to my husband, ‘I think something is wrong with the baby.’ There was fluid in the back of his neck. ‘We need to admit you. Today.’: Mom says ‘Down syndrome is the best thing to ever happen to our family’
“‘It could be something, it could be nothing.’ My blood pressure spiked dangerously high. The doctor said, ‘We need to admit you. Today.’ I was hooked to an IV in a massive, darkened birthing room in the middle of the night. When it came time for his arrival, there were 20 people in the room. All I remember saying was, ‘Oh, he’s so cute,’ and then he was gone.”
‘I got the call and instantly threw up. ‘Do you know how sick you are?’ We cried together.’: Young woman with Cystic fibrosis gives tribute to donor, ‘I am forever grateful for the second chance at life’
“I steadily declined. The doctor said, ‘Kenzie, there is what we call a ‘transplant window.’ I need to start the process now before it is too late. My family held hands around my bed. Being rolled away was the hardest part.”
‘She had tubes down her throat. She immediately grabbed my hand and wrote ‘I (heart) U’ with her finger in the palm.’: Woman grieves mothers death, ‘I lost her 10 days before I graduated college’
“She was so upset I was at the hospital versus at college studying for my final exams for my senior year. She kept writing ‘I am okay’ on a notepad. She held on a few moments longer. My last visual memory is her sitting up, waving goodbye because she was doing ‘better.’ I can’t help but think that was her plan all along.”
‘Sweetheart, you’re going to get through this.’ The smiling eyes behind your goggles and N-95 masks will stay with me forever.’: Woman pens love letter to nurses who helped her battle COVID-19
“She was the ICU nurse who got stuck with the COVID-19 patient. I don’t know how many hours I spent staring at my oxygen on the monitor, willing it to rise. All I wanted was one breath. Still, she showed up, with grace and humor. I will never forget that sacrifice.”
‘I was sitting on a dirty mattress on the floor of our break room weeping, covered in 3 layers of PPE.’: Nurse says ‘thank you all so much for loving me during this time’
“I am not a hero. I am a nurse. This is what we’re made to do. I fully believe God places us on this earth to love and serve others, and I am so grateful I was able to serve in this capacity.”
‘He started to cry and said, ‘I remember your eyes.’ Mr. C will fuel me until the day I hang up my stethoscope.’: Physician in tears after old man recovers from COVID-19, ‘He is my silent warrior’
“Yesterday my new friend Mr. C was extubated. I decided to go ‘meet’ him again. I cautiously went into his room, donned in my PPE, and when he saw me, he stopped for a second. ‘I’m Dr. Akbarnia, Mr. C. I was the last person you saw in the ER. You told me you trusted us to get you to this side. Looks like you did just fine.’ We both started to cry.”
‘They just want to make it home to their loved ones. They’re working soul-crushing shifts. Who will help THEM?: Woman pens ode to Covid-19 war heroes, ‘We see you, and we salute you’
“They run towards the danger, as everyone else runs the other way. They’ve made choices that will follow them for the rest of their lives. They’ve been the last face many have seen as they drew their last breath, those images seared in their minds for all time.”
‘He can never leave the house.’ We have not seen our family or friends in over a year.’: Mom of severely immunocompromised son says ‘I am tired of headlines saying only the vulnerable will die’
“His doctors were hopeful we could take him out of the house for the first time EVER this summer. We could introduce him to his family members and friends. We could let him play on a playground, like a normal toddler. However, now our future is unknown again as the pandemic has erupted.”
