“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 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 kept getting UTIs. My male doctor said, ‘Do you think the pain might be ALL IN YOUR HEAD?’ I was mortified.’: Woman with chronic urinary tract infections urges ‘you are not alone’
“I’d receive a 3-day course of antibiotics and be sent on my way. It would clear up, but come back with vengeance. I was told it was ‘just because I was WITH my boyfriend.’ Fair enough, sex can be a cause, but what did other people do? Stay single for the rest of their life? I was at a loss. All the doctors suggested I was exaggerating.”
‘My dad told us, ‘Make someone’s day better.’ I watched him take his last breath. ‘Just because he couldn’t receive my kidney, doesn’t mean somebody else shouldn’t.’ This is for you, dad.’
“I was nervous and excited the morning of the surgery. This was finally happening! We could feel my dad’s presence in the room. We each donated to a stranger, for him.”
‘I came down for breakfast and Bill was busy writing. He told me he was jotting down notes for his memorial service. What? What do you mean ‘memorial service?’ I never made it to the office that day.’
“Just as I was starting to feel some tiny relief from losing my dad, Bill started coughing again. We both knew what the cough was from.”
