“‘You don’t look like the other boys. You look different.’ I was sick of giving power to strangers. It was time to take back control.”
‘In front of the entire train, he pointed at me and shouted, ‘Look at that freak!’ I broke down into floods of tears.’: Man with cystic hygroma shares self-love journey
‘Are you dying? Do you have cancer?’ I had absolutely nothing left to give. In 2 months, I was completely bald.’: Woman raises alopecia awareness
“There was hair on my pillow, the fridge, the shower. Every time I caught my reflection, I could see more of my scalp. I avoided shiny surfaces so I didn’t have to see myself.”
‘You should put her up for adoption.’ They thought my ‘deformities’ would ‘severely handicap’ me.’: Woman born with amniotic band syndrome is ‘not limited in ANY way’
“‘We just don’t know what to do.’ They thought I’d never be able to walk, run, or have normal brain function. I HAD to believe in myself.”
‘I gently lathered shampoo and rinsed. I felt a fullness in my fists, countless strands in tangled clumps among the suds.’: Woman with alopecia urges ‘losing hair doesn’t equal losing value’
“Over the following weeks, fishing clumps of hair from the drain became part of my routine. People commented, ‘What a waste of a body.’ This disease isn’t cruel, the stigma is.”
‘STOP using ‘bad’ to describe a person’s body part.’: Limb difference advocate urges ‘teach people to love their bodies’
“You’re teaching them if their body doesn’t look or function like most do, then it’s BAD.”
‘Do you ever feel GUILTY for saying no?’: Woman urges ‘don’t put all you have into others’
“It’s not RUDE to say no.”
‘A diagnosis wouldn’t be worth it. You can’t do anything about it.’ I was angry. No one took me seriously.’: Chronic illness warrior urges ‘my pain is real’
“I kept telling my mom, ‘This isn’t anxiety.’ I was finally fighting for myself, yet people continued to ignore me. Instead of giving up, I fought harder.”
‘She looks so good!’ the nurse kept telling me. Yet tomorrow, surgeons would remove half her brain.’: Mom shares daughter’s Infantile Spasms diagnosis
“I injected her chubby thighs with steroids twice a day. My beautiful, happy baby gained 5 pounds in a month. She acted like she wanted to crawl out of her own skin.”
‘I know we’re setting you up for heartbreak.’ Something about them just felt right. They were home.’: Mom adopts brothers after infertility battle, ‘My boys are an answered prayer’
“The heartbreak is nothing compared to the day they come through the door and take off their coat.”
‘One of Eliza’s eyes was sticking out. The doctor took one look and said, ‘I think she has a tumor.’: Mom’s two kids diagnosed with cancer 2 weeks apart
“As soon as he found out, our pediatrician said, ‘Take your son Oliver to the oncologist, too.’ I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.”
