“We wanted to adopt siblings from the beginning. After many disappointments, I applied for two brothers I saw in a flyer. Months later, while shopping with my mom in Meijer, my caseworker called. ‘Would you like to learn more?’ I had two options: recover or die.”
‘The night before surgery, Granny and Pap came in a dream: ‘Honey, we’re waiting for you.’ I was terrified.’: Chronic illness warrior survives health complications, adopts 2 pre-teens
‘He’s so cold.’ She ripped off the blankets, just watched him breathe. I could see she was scared to tell me.’: Mom shares son’s Angelman Syndrome journey, ‘He constantly defies the odds’
“He was so yellow he looked like an old-school baby doll. He was labeled ‘Failure to Thrive.’ Those three words were a punch in the gut. I felt like I failed my newborn.”
‘He had every opportunity to leave. I went from perfectly healthy to crippled, mentally and physically. Instead, he got down on one knee. ‘Will you marry me?’: Woman thanks husband for unconditional love during Chronic Lyme Disease battle
“I don’t remember the rehearsal dinner. I took a nap between the ceremony and reception. After a month of treatment, I rallied to walk down the aisle. Our love was stronger than the forces pulling me down.”
‘It’s just growing pains, don’t worry about it!’ I couldn’t even walk. I was terrified. I HAD to speak up for myself.’: Young chronic illness warrior details road to diagnosis, ‘I took on this journey with a smile’
“My cardiologist told me, ‘It’s all in your head.’ She was mad I couldn’t even stand for an assessment. I tried to push through. How could she say what I was going through wasn’t real?”
‘I could feel in my soul something was off about this pregnancy. ‘We can’t find anything worrisome.’ They were missing something, and I knew it.’: Couple uproot themselves for son’s Angelman Syndrome diagnosis, ‘He is our little angel’
“‘He doesn’t have it.’ We hit a dead end. Knowing we needed to be exposed to new doctors, we put a poll on Instagram with three different states. We put our home on the market, sold it and all our furniture with it within 24 hours, and moved from Utah to Texas.”
‘The doctor said, ‘Something is brewing, but I just can’t put my finger on it.’ I went from a ‘migraine’ to blacking out for two months.’: Teen battling chronic illness urges ‘let the worst inspire the good’
“I spiked a 108-degree fever. I was stripped naked, covered with cold cloths, and had fans blasting my body. Soon after, I went psychotic. Nothing I said made sense, and everything had a twisted meaning. HGTV sent me into full-blown panic.”
‘The doctor said, ‘If you buy a toaster and it’s smashed, you know it won’t work.’ We were SPEECHLESS. We had to find a new ‘normal.’: Daughter born with Microcephaly, ‘She’s made AMAZING progress’
“‘We witnessed a little girl in a purple wheelchair being shaken and yelled at.’ That little girl was Melissa. Sometimes life leads you in the right direction at the right time.”
‘He’ll have severe disabilities.’ Each smile is priceless. We have an even greater appreciation for the ‘little things.’: Mom advocates for son with undiagnosed condition, ‘He’s one of a kind’
“Our 6-week-old son lay in a hospital bed next to us, all hooked up. The prognosis was grim. Watching your child have seizure after seizure, knowing there’s nothing you can do, is gut-wrenching. He might not understand what’s happening, but he’s so strong.”
‘What’s wrong with her?’ I’d sit in the corner and draw for hours. I always knew something was different about me.’: Woman shares autism diagnosis journey, ‘Different is beautiful’
“People would say hello to me, and I’d ignore them. There’s a myth black girls don’t have autism, so they didn’t think to test me. I was called crazy, moody, shy, or a brat, but I was far from any of those things.”
‘Is Nicole going to die?’ It started with a twitch. Then she turned blue. It was like an arrow to the heart.’: Sisters diagnosed with ‘ultra-rare’ Batten Disease, ‘We’ll never stop fighting for them’
“I felt like the life had been sucked from me. ‘What are we going to do?’ I’ve never felt so helpless. We thought it was impossible for our hearts to break any further, but they did.”
