“My tears soak the sleeve of her sweatshirt. A sharp, strong pain runs through my chest. For the past 19 years, I have watched him swallow hundreds of thousands of pills. ‘What if Matthew gets sicker? How much time does he have?’ I finally decided I was tired of watching. Life gave me the greatest gift of all: a brother. I will stand hand-in-hand beside him in this fight.”
‘What if Matthew doesn’t come home this time?’ I watch him struggle to breathe. I gasp for air, screaming as my mother holds my shaking body.’: Sister advocates for brother battling Cystic Fibrosis, ‘I will stand beside him in this fight, forever’
‘Telling her ‘he is gone’ was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. She has no siblings anymore. Just a big pile of heartache.’: Mom has to tell daughter her brother is dead due to opioid crisis
“John absolutely adored his sister. He was fine with people thinking that this beautiful blonde, this older woman, was his date – he would go out of his way to ham it up for whoever was commenting. ‘Come to me darling,’ I can hear him say. His eyes twinkling with glee. He would protect her. He just loved being with her.”
‘Are you willing to take my baby girl?’ We booked a one-way ticket. They hadn’t seen each other in 20 months.’: Adoptive parents take in son’s older sister during tough time for biological mom, ‘We would do anything for her’
“My husband and I booked a one-way ticket for her. On her first flight. She finally arrived at our front door at 2 a.m.. With open arms, we welcomed our youngest son’s biological sister into our home. The moment they saw each other they exchanged the sweetest embrace. They just knew. Knew their love for each other. And the connection they shared. We do not know how long she will be with us. But she is family.”
‘It’s bad, they have her on life support.’ I cried out to keep my sister earth side, not to take her from us.’: Young woman recalls sister’s harrowing car accident, how she overcame her ‘impossible’ recovery
“It was just after 11 a.m. on a Saturday morning when I received the phone call from my mom. ‘Your sister has been in a car accident.’ She was headed to the hospital. I’ll never forget the pain in my dad’s voice and anguish in my mother’s cry’s echoing in the background. I decided in that room of 7 doctors that my sister had already showed us she wants to live!”
‘Nicole, I had NO IDEA.’ I almost took my own life. I hid it so well. No one knew.’: Woman reminds us to ‘always be kind’ after battling suicide, ‘you never know the battles someone is facing’
“If it weren’t for my sister calling me right before, I wouldn’t be here. She had no idea I’d just written a letter saying ‘goodbye.’ No one knew I was suffering. No one asked if I was okay. I shared only the good parts of my life, never the struggles. My family thought my life was beautiful and amazing.”
‘What do you mean we’re siblings?!’ We’d been dating for months, loved each other. We had NO IDEA.’: DNA test reveals couple adopted by separate famlies are related, now navigating ‘unique trauma’ together
“Me. Him. Same parents? That makes us…what? No. ABSOLUTELY NOT. Imagine having to break the news to your boyfriend that hey, I might be your sister. Actually, I am your sister. 100%. You know those awful bio parents of ours that totally kicked us to the curb? Yeah. They’re actually the same ones! We went from strangers, to lovers, to siblings, to strangers.”
‘Thank you for always worrying about me, I love you.’ I’ll never forget the words she texted.’: Woman devastated after sister dies of heroin overdose alone, homeless, on park bench
“Our father, who wasn’t around for our life, provided her a hotel room on Christmas Eve. While she was thankful for that, we could never understand how he could let her be homeless. We could never understand his non-emotion. My dearest sister was left to die in the cold.”
‘My daughter has a sister, it’s complicated. I was almost ‘Mama’ to that sweet girl.’: Adoptive mom ‘heartbroken’ after daughter’s biological sister not placed with their family
“Seven months ago, my husband and I were in the back seat of a friend’s car on the way to dinner when the phone rang. It was a social worker. She told us that a baby had been born into foster care– our daughter had a biological sister. We could take a couple of days to decide, but we needed to let her know ASAP if we were interested. I had a full-blown panic attack.”
‘My son sat on the sidelines, on hospital floors, watching his sister deteriorate. HE suffered, silently.’: Mom praises son for being ‘unsung hero’ during little sister’s battle with Ewing’s Sacroma
“At 10, Gabriel was thrust into a world of hospitals, procedures, and more pain fathomable. He watched his sister get all the affection, attention, and gifts. He lay on hospital floors next to her, hardly able to sleep, then awoke for school in the early mornings. He watched her deteriorate, not being able to help his sissy, not expressing his feelings…keeping it all inside.”
‘I’m too scared to go back,’ I told my mom. His voice paralyzed me. I lived in fear he’d kill my mother.’: 23-year-old adopted by stepfather who ‘never ceased to fight’ for her during childhood trauma with biological dad
“I lived in 2 different worlds. Five days a week I was in a picture-perfect home with a beautiful stay-at-home mom. But the remaining 2 days, I was in survival mode. I remember watching the clock tick by, counting down the time I had left in my safe haven before I’d have to get in the car and enter my second world. My biological dad had trained me well, so I kept his secrets. I’d stare at the window in my bedroom, hands on the frame, trying to build enough courage to slip out of it and run.”
