“Gavin came home from work complaining he wasn’t feeling well. I brushed it off thinking he had the flu. ‘I want to go lay down.’ He then called my name. ‘I think I need to go to the hospital and get checked out.’ I started down the hallway with him in front of me when he passed out. My mind raced the whole way to the hospital. I knew this was serious. After the doctor’s questioned him, he finally confessed. As soon as they walked out, I knew it wasn’t good. ‘We’re so sorry. His body was too weak.’”
‘I am tired of being in pain.’ He started to cry. I was so oblivious to it. I thought he was better.’: Air Force husband overdoses on pain pills after suffering PTSD, ‘I’m too young to be a widow, I’m only 26’
‘Yellow!’ Micah pointed to an adorable little chick with a big smile. Then, he spiked a 106 fever.’: Woman loses 3-year-old to Arthritis, ‘I am a mother, that will never change with time, space, or death’
“‘Are you SURE?’ I asked the doc, reading the report. ‘It would be like being struck by lightening TWICE. He’s fine.’ They were wrong. He was SICK. Sicker than any baby I’d seen. I walked into the PICU bathroom, shut the door. I screamed, moaned, punched the mirror, and cried the guttural tears of a mother who already knew how the story ends, because she’d lived it before. I was reliving my worst nightmare.”
‘Scott, a 30-year-old picture of health, was on the Treadmill before work. The cleaning lady found him.’: Woman loses Border Patrol Agent husband to sudden heart attack, finds new partner who ‘allows me to love 2 men at the same time’
“‘There’s been an accident.’ Silence. My doorbell rang. 6 uniformed agents were at my front door. ‘Leave your daughter here, they will watch her, you need to come with me.’ I was hesitant, but sensed the urgency in their voices. No one knows how long he had been laying there. I froze. I kept thinking it was a joke. Scott was a huge prankster. I just kept hoping his eyes would open.”
‘I was not a virgin. BUT I was in my own home. I took my rape and buried it. For 21 years.’: Teenager raped at her own party in high school says she was a ‘broken spirit,’ but learned to ‘survive, be strong’
“When I was 18, I threw a party at my house. I convinced my parents I was grown enough to stay home alone. Enter the sweaty keg in the living room that left a ring on the floor permanently. And the collection of teddy bears my mom kept in the living room drowned in the pool. It was devastating. That night I drank too much and let people I thought were friends, destroy parts of my childhood.”
‘Please! I’m pregnant!’ My front door kicked open. There, in my living room, stood a man with a gun.’: Woman loses baby to stomach gunshot wound in robbery, ‘I spent 8 beautiful days on Earth with her’
“Suddenly, I heard a gunshot and felt intense pain in my stomach. I couldn’t feel my baby moving anymore. The last thing I remember, I was being wheeled in for an emergency c-section, all eyes on me. When I finally saw my daughter, I could tell she was fighting. In my arms, her body started to fade to purple. ‘When you finally say enough is enough, she will be put to rest.’ Still, I held her through each breath. I was at a complete loss of words.”
‘I laughed out loud. Me? Cancer? I was 25. No way. My mom was going to pass out.’: 27-year-old in cancer remission urges it’s not ‘rainbows and roses,’ but she is ‘blessed to be alive today, that I can say for sure’
“‘I really think you should go to the ER,’ my best friend said as I winced in pain. For me to even consider the emergency room meant something was seriously wrong. ‘Kidney stones,’ I thought. A quick scan, morphine and some rest and I’d be on my way. I was wrong. I’ll never forget his name, Brian. The main nurse I had. ‘We need to do another scan, this time, one of your chest.’”
‘Which way did he go?’ This was our great escape. My dad was a monster. I was sworn to secrecy.’: Woman credits foster parents for ‘saving’ her through ‘dark times,’ battling suicidal thoughts, sexual abuse, Bipolar disorder
“My friend asked if I wanted to stay the night. I couldn’t, but asked if she wanted to stay at my house. Before I could even finish, she told me ‘no.’ I shrugged it off, no big deal. A week later, she saw my whole family. That’s when I recognized the fear in her eyes. She had not seen my stepdad since then.”
‘Stop trying.’ He wasn’t coming back. That pale, limp body wasn’t my son. I pounded the wall.’: Mom insists rainbow baby ‘helped fill the void’ after son’s death, ‘she’s my reason to keep going’
“‘Why my son?! Why me?!’ We went home and packed up his clothes, toys. His grandparents held onto everything else. We couldn’t bear to. But we destroyed the Rock ‘n Play he died in. I’ve seen news stories about their recalls. Of course, it makes me wonder if that’s what happened to my son. We will never know. Within weeks of his passing, I was pregnant. Intentionally. Family was concerned. I didn’t care.”
‘His mom delivered another baby. She abandoned him at the hospital.’ It was a call we never expected.’: Woman adopts teen, his younger sibling born addicted to drugs, ‘Does this sound crazy? I think it does too’
“‘Have you been notified of that boy’s roommate at the group home?,’ he asked. ‘We have not,’ I replied. ‘Would you be willing to meet him?’ 3 months later, he was moving in with us hours before his first day of high school. We found out I was pregnant by surprise. ‘This is crazy. We can’t do this, right?’ We were going to have 2 babies and a teenager with PTSD. Less than a year ago, we had no kids.”
‘We had a big fight. I took a bath to rinse off the negative energy. You wrote your goodbye letter.’: Woman loses veteran husband to suicide, ‘you were excited for our baby to be born, you didn’t make it this far’
“I heard our bedroom door shut. I thought you were just going to shower. I tried to find my phone and heard your body hit the floor. You were struggling. I ran upstairs, the door was locked. I tried to kick it in. ‘How the hell do people do this?!’ Throwing my body into the door, I begged you with all of my might to let me in.”
