“I felt my left leg just tighten up. I instantly began crying because I knew this couldn’t be good. My teammates helped me off the court. I needed to prove I was good enough.”
‘I was knocked into the air and heard my knee POP. ‘Oh no, not again.’ All my hard work was wasted.’: Athlete overcomes knee injuries, ‘I’m finding achievement off the field’
‘I sat behind moms at my daughter’s game. They commented on everything she did wrong, how with ‘that height’ she should be doing a.b.c. ‘Why would the coach leave her in?’: Mom urges ‘choose kindness’ after adult bullying incident
“I sat there fuming and almost ready to say something or cry.”
‘I don’t know who I am.’ I struggled with feeling depressed and hopeless. All my dreams died.’: Man diagnosed with Friedreich’s Ataxia raises awareness, ‘I want to encourage people’
“I had more and more difficulties performing physical functions. I couldn’t keep my balance. ‘Maybe I had too many concussions.’ I felt defeated thinking about all the things I wouldn’t be able to do with my wife and kids.”
‘We waited for age 3 to potty train. We started preschool late. We baptized when our son was old enough to understand what it means.’: Mom urges ‘move at your own pace, mama’
“The world will try to pressure you to hurry it all up. Good meaning people will chime in with advice on how to do your job better. As the world reopens and all the pressures start to return, remember, motherhood is not a sprint. It’s a marathon.”
‘Jango bit down on Hunter’s leg and violently shook him like a rag doll. He’d ask, ‘Why would God let this happen?’: After terrifying dog attack, boy learns to thrive with prosthesis
“A resident called me over and spat out medical terms. I heard a word I recognized, one that will forever haunt me: ‘Amputation.’ My knees crumbled beneath me. A member of the hospital staff caught me by the arm. ‘I think you should sit down.’”
‘I can pull her arm out of the socket. I can put my finger in.’ He examined me, muttering, ‘Oh wow.’: Student diagnosed with Hypermobility Syndrome, ‘I’m proud of my invisible illness’
“My hips started hurting, which I’d never felt before. I used painkillers and energy drinks to get through. The pain was unmatched. ‘It’s finally happening.’ I knew this was going to change my life.”
‘I could never date someone without hair.’ I’ll never forget the look of disgust on his face.’: Woman with alopecia ditches wig, ‘It has shown me I can do anything I set my mind to’
“I would go into the bathroom stall during halftime and re-apply the tape that held my wig on. I saw nothing beautiful about my bald head. When they called me ‘baldy’ or said, ‘Lindsay is ugly,’ I believed it was true. I took my wig off mid-run. And for the first time, I saw nothing beautiful about it. I finally felt like I was the Lindsay I was always meant to be.”
‘Does it not bother you that you aren’t getting to play?’ Her response rocked my world: ‘I know what my role is on the team, and I’m okay with that.’: Mom learns powerful lesson about sports from daughter, ‘Not everyone can be the star athlete’
“I had never had a kid be a benchwarmer before. I didn’t know how to be the parent of a kid who didn’t play. I didn’t know how to get excited for the team when my kid wasn’t on the floor. It was a new role for me, and I didn’t like it. What really bothered me most was that it seemed to NOT bother her. After 2 weeks into the season, I couldn’t bite my tongue any longer.”
‘I heard his sweet, crackly voice whisper, ‘Mama, I don’t want to go.’ He burst into tears and lunged toward me.’: Mom urges ‘cheer them on, congratulate them, tell them how proud you are’
“It was his very ‘fourst’ day of hockey. ‘What’s wrong, buddy? You were so excited.’ As I held my little trembling man, feeling his warm tears falling from his eyes onto my own cheek, every fiber of me felt his fear. A tiny part of me wanted to let him stay home. My heart ached as I watched the car pull out of the driveway.”
‘I’ve been seeing a boy for a year.’ I wasn’t changing. My family was going to be disappointed. We are Catholic.’: Gay twin brothers come out to parents, ’We struggled with the fact we could lose family for being who we are.’
“‘Do you have any crushes on girls in your class?’ It was hard to get away with answering ‘no.’ I thought of sending myself to conversion therapy. We couldn’t understand why we weren’t sexually attracted to women. Having this picture embedded in our heads of a hyper-masculine culture messed us up. We knew sooner or later something, or someone, would have to give.”
