“This woman in the supermarket was me 5 years ago. I had it all together. When I saw kids misbehaving, I assumed bad parenting. Then life did a 180. I’m not the supermom I used to be. I’m the mom figuring out how to cope.”
‘The dad handed a chocolate donut to his kicking, screaming child. He let her win. ‘My child will never act like that,’ I naively thought.’: Parent urges for grace, ‘We are all trying our best’
‘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.”
‘THIS is my wake up call. I took charge of my health once and for all. NO MORE dismissive doctors being the drivers of my journey.’: Chronic illness warrior advocates for herself, ‘I can only control my attitude’
“I never thought the ‘pesky problems’ would become an illness. I felt like I was going CRAZY. No one believed me! I can’t control my circumstances, but I CAN control how I handle them.”
‘He failed both of his hearing tests. ‘It’s just fluid.’ I could tell something wasn’t right. All of my hopes for him were RUINED.’: Mom advocates for son with hearing loss, ‘Trust your gut’
“I had no clue about hearing loss and had never even met a deaf person. I left that appointment in shambles, feeling so bad for my baby. ‘Is this my fault? Can it be reversed?’ I wanted Mason to experience waves crashing on the shore, crickets chirping at night, the giggles of his sisters. I wanted him to HEAR.”
‘There’s no cure.’ He had cysts on his brain. We were at a dead end. I was beyond devastated, but I had to fight.’: Mom advocates for son born with hearing loss, CMV, ‘He’s made me stronger’
“He suddenly had microcephaly, and none of us understood why. I was terrified. He was so tiny and fragile. All of this was because I contracted a virus while pregnant. I felt so guilty.”
‘The doctor gently told us, ‘His case is not mild. At the very least, he’s on the severe end.’ Everyone focuses on what he CAN’T do, but we focus on what he CAN do.’: Mom recounts son’s diagnosis journey with autism, ‘You’ll move mountains’
“The signs were all there. Everything. I knew it was time. How did I not know sooner? I’m his mom, shouldn’t I just automatically know these things? We are NOT going to give up on you.”
‘You were born for our entertainment.’ An avalanche of mean comments poured in. It was crushing.’: Woman with dwarfism ‘determined’ to spread awareness
“With a smile, my dad said, ‘You’re going to be tiny all your life.’ It didn’t usually bother me. I found acceptance and kindness at nearly every turn. And then I went viral.”
‘That’s so sad.’ But we are NOT sad. I just wanted to squeeze him so hard and run right out of there.’: Autism mom says ‘His diagnosis is actually his superpower’
“My mind was racing with what to do next. I don’t know why it was so hard for me to make the appointment. I carried him in with his favorite blanket in hopes it will make everything better. He was actually diagnosed with a superpower.”
‘How can something this terrible exist?’ He had a fever for 105 days. This is our new reality.’: After son’s Sanfilippo Syndrome diagnosis, family raises money for cure, ‘Time is precious’
“Carter went from speaking two-word sentences to having his vocabulary drop to less than ten words. ‘He’s 3 and not potty trained?’ I laughed, ‘Oh, you know boys.’ Our sweet, joyful little boy did a complete 180 before our very eyes.”
‘It took him nearly an hour and a half to finish a bottle. Milk would come out from his nose, his ears. EVERYWHERE.’: Boy’s cleft lip and palate ‘gave him a chance to know why he’s special from an early age’
“I was alone when they told me. I do remember carrying my still squirming baby boy up the stairs to his room and collapsing on the ground next to his dresser, unable to move, unable to even cry. A strange thing happened during this time. I grew up. I got tough. To the rest of the world, it was a defect, but to us, it was precious.”
