“My friend introduced me to a better way to get high: injecting. He left when I got pregnant. I looked at myself in the mirror. ‘What are you doing? You are worth so much more.’ I wanted my kids to have love, but first, I had to find it myself.”
‘At 19, I got pregnant and relapsed. My son wasn’t enough to stop me. I continued to use behind his back. I went back to hiding it, and was caught by my son’s father.’
‘In tears, my husband handed me a small paper. ‘Please don’t take my baby!’ My stomach twisted into a giant knot. Our world totally flipped upside down.’
“I had so many questions, but all I wanted to do was hold her and sob. ‘She’s just 16 and in this much pain?’ I looked at my sweet, beautiful girl and could not believe it. After blood work and an x-ray, we learned the fateful news.”
‘You’re an angel,’ he said to me after a night of being told I was worthless. The sun started to shine through the window, it reeked of booze and I had yet to sleep. I wanted to be that ‘angel.’
“My grandma passed away, and everything came crumbling down around me. I was alone. I needed him more than anything now. I needed his support, I needed him to hold me and listen to the speech I had prepared for her funeral. Instead, he did the exact opposite. ‘I need space,’ he said. SPACE?!”
‘Momma, when are you gonna get better? I miss how you used to be.’ I could no longer lift her up. I didn’t have the guts to tell her there’s no cure.’
“I was walking down the sidewalk when I suddenly felt like my body was struck by lightning. My legs grew heavier with each step. All I could think was, ‘Something is very wrong.’ Nothing like this had ever happened before. The scariest part is fearing every day that I’ve passed it onto my daughter.”
‘At 4 a.m. we got THE call. ‘YOU’RE HAVING A BABY! Mom’s water broke! How fast can you get here?’ With tears streaming down her face, she handed him to me and said, ‘Meet your son.’
“We were 7 hours away! We woke up the friends we were staying with, told them what was happening, brushed our teeth, and hit the road! We started calling family from the car. ‘Wake up, we’re having a baby!’”
‘Thinking she had the flu, we took our little girl to the hospital. She was minutes away from dying. ‘She won’t make it through the night,’ the doctor said. She turned to me. ‘Mom, I can do this!’
“We told the doctor, ‘Do anything you have to in order to save our baby girl!’ The infection spread throughout her tiny body. She is a competitive dancer and her passion is being on the stage. ‘Mom, I am going to dance again!’ She woke up in a coma with her entire body wrapped in white gauze.”
‘Did you give her that hickey on her chest?’ I had a low-cut dress on my husband likes. ‘No, she had cancer. That is her scar.’ Sadly, it didn’t end there.’
“My husband and I were on a date. One of these women leaned over to my husband and asked him this question. Then, the ladies told me I should ‘get a tattoo to cover up my scar.’ I have to tell you, they got to me.”
‘I woke up with the worst pain. ‘They’re just headaches,’ I said. Something in my mom’s heart kept pushing. ‘There’s something in your brain,’ the doctor said. I was 11, and so confused.’
“I was rushed to the PICU. I tried to stay calm, but I was terrified. I couldn’t help but think, ‘How could I have done anything wrong to deserve this?’ I hid everything behind a smile, but I knew my life would never be ‘normal’ again.”
‘I was almost a school shooter. I had 2 locations mapped out. The bullying became unbearable. But 2 things stopped me, and altered the course of my life.’
“Mike took me in that night, letting me sleep in his room against his parents’ wishes, sneaking me leftovers from dinner. He helped me wash my clothes and let me take a shower. I hadn’t shared my feelings with anyone, but someone was watching.”
‘Are you sleeping with my husband?’ My baby was 4 months old and she needed her daddy. She dropped a bombshell. They immediately updated their relationship status on Facebook.’
“I’d walk in from work to find them giggling in the kitchen. Just when I thought life couldn’t get any better, I found out I was pregnant. She grinned. ‘Anytime you want me to babysit, I’d be happy to.’ She looked me straight in the eye. ‘I thought you should know…’ she began.”
