“That’s it. That’s all it took. Five minutes to change my entire life.”
‘It was playtime on the playground. My student looked anxious. I climbed to get closer to him, placed my foot on the rail and tumbled, hitting my head on a metal pole. I fell to the ground.’
‘He’s not breathing!’ His entire arm was jerking. What was going on?! ‘He was just screaming! How could he not be breathing?’ Then my phone rang.’
“He was admitted to the hospital ‘just to do some routine stuff’ since he was young for such a high fever. I didn’t love the idea, but I was willing to do whatever was needed. Then something unexpected happened. Trevor started screaming. The nurse reached for the ‘Code Blue’ button on the wall.”
‘I blankly looked at the doctor. ‘What does this mean?’ He replied, ‘Hope you don’t go deaf.’ They gave me a discharge note. ‘I could drop dead at any time.’
“Would you ever think a blood clot could save your life? My phone dinged with a new email from the lab, I nervously signed in and opened the attachment. ‘No way!’ I shouted out loud, was I reading this right?”
‘We first noticed a weird movement when she was 5 months. Both arms and legs would come together in the air, followed by screaming and crying. My baby girl was fading away.’
“Something in me snapped. She was using our daughter for her own research. I was furious! It was so hard to be the hand that hurts your own child. I remember her dad always saying, ‘I’m so sorry baby.'”
‘He looked up at us and then dropped to the ground seizing. This time was different. I thought our nightmare was over, but the universe had other plans.’
“The original doctor who discharged us asked what we were doing back. I wanted to slap him. You’re supposed to shield your child from awful things, not be a participant.”
‘My daughter started kindergarten like most 5-year-olds. We had no idea her first year was going to test us in ways we couldn’t even imagine. Teachers noticed her making weird movements.’
“The doctor walked in the room, looked at the video and told me she is making all of this up. ‘It’s all in her head,’ and I should take her to a psychiatrist.”
‘I woke up being wheeled to the ICU in the worst pain imaginable. All I could silently mouth was ‘How’s my baby?’ I needed a doctor to believe me.’
“I was frustrated and angry. I know my body and I know that this isn’t a migraine!”
‘Ginger ale slowly fermented and turned into a bomb. It detonated at the exact moment she walked passed it. The force of the blast knocked her unconscious to the ground.’
“Shelly was busy and didn’t pour it out right away.”
‘That was the best day of my life’: After bullying, little boy’s disabilities ‘go away’ during Avengers superhero transformation
“We decided to teach Jackson to fight back. We helped him realize that he can be confident and proud of who he is.”
