“My body was shaking. Handful after handful of pills, I could feel myself fading away. I remember the familiar sound of sirens blaring. ‘Lay still!’ I cried and screamed and tried to fight as they held me down. The nurse said, ‘I have to do this if I’m going to save your life and I have every intention of doing just that.’ I was begging to die.”
‘A guy passed me and asked, ‘Are you okay?’ I was preparing to jump into the cold lake and end everything once and for all.’: Suicide attempt survivor urges ‘the sun will shine again for you’
‘Will I ever be good enough for this job? I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. Some days, I fantisize about running away.’: Mom shares candid reality of motherhood, ‘You will conquer today just like every other’
“I doubt the decisions I make for my family. I spend another day cleaning the house, just to watch it be destroyed in 5 minutes. Some days, I don’t want to be the responsible one. I fantasize about running away. And still, my kids are the best thing to ever happen to me.”
‘A woman on the bus kept pointing at Meriton and touching me on the back. ‘Is he sick?’ She was loud and kept repeating herself.’: Woman urges ‘there is no cure for human being’
“The whole time I was trying to show Meriton we are equal, something was missing. I got a tattoo of a chromosome and said, ‘This will make us equally different, forever.’ The only sickness in life is the bad attitude towards people with special needs, and I’m not going to stop working to show society different.”
‘Her skin was gone. I can still hear her scream while gasping for air. What exactly happened that day?’: Sister of burn survivor takes confidence-boosting photo shoot, ‘Her flaws don’t define her’
“He grabbed a toy cup, went over to the full pot of coffee, and pulled it down to pour into his toy cup. My baby sister’s seat was just below. You may or may not notice her scars when you see her.”
‘My MARRIED Corporal would call me drunk at all hours of the night, calling me ‘baby.’ I was punished for not wanting to socialize with him outside of work.’: Female veteran, assault survivor says ‘we are all Vanessa Guillen’
“I was young and naive when I left home at 18 years old to join the Marine Corps. I remember lying awake in my empty barracks as Marines knocked on my door saying, ‘I’m gonna get you first.’ I was harrassed and accused of ‘sleeping my way through the ranks.’ I quickly realized not everyone in the Corps was my ‘brother’ or ‘sister.'”
‘I hired a private detective. ‘For a few hundred more bucks, I can bring you face to face with your mother.’ Every time the phone rang, I hoped it was her missing me.’: Woman details life with addicted mother, ‘I vowed to be the best mom I can be’
“The doorbell rang at 6 a.m. I opened the door to see my mom standing between two policemen, muddy and handcuffed. She’d call me ‘Bucky,’ knowing I was self-conscious about my teeth. When I was 19 and getting married, no mom. When I was 20 and having my first baby, no mom. I had the same phone number for several years, but she never dialed it again.”
‘I’m lying on the ground crying. ‘I can’t bear this.’ His life will be over before it really begins.’: Mom advocates for son’s terminal illness, Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, ‘Strength is more than muscle’
“How can I watch him learn how to feed himself, knowing all too soon he won’t be able to move his arms? I tried to imagine what life was going to look like with this diagnosis. ‘I just can’t do this.’”
‘Caleigh complained of back pain. ‘Her spine is collapsing,’ the doctor said. My sweet daughter was curving.’: Mom to daughter with muscular dystropy says ‘not every bad situation has to have a bad ending’
“Out of the blue, her ‘best friend’ no longer wanted to be her best friend. Countless strangers walk up and ask why she is using a ‘grandma scooter’ to get around. Any time she falls, people stare or laugh instead of rush to assist her. Still, she does not believe in ‘I cannot.’ Through all the needle sticks and surgeries, she does her best to comfort ME.”
‘I was sleeping 16 hours a day. I felt someone squeezing my lungs every time I took a breath. ‘You’re fine, just go home and rest.’: Woman battling Lupus urges ‘you’re capable of crushing every obstacle in your path’
“A group of doctors huddled at the end of my bed. I overheard them say, ‘She’s so incredibly sick, we just can’t figure out what’s wrong. She isn’t going to make it.’ I spiked a 104 fever. I was writhing in pain, grunting, moaning, begging for it to stop.”
‘I didn’t want to watch 2 of my children die. I couldn’t walk away once, but twice, and not see them again.’: Woman loses 2 babies to congenital muscle disease, says her story is ‘tragically beautiful’
“I didn’t want anyone to die, especially not my child. Especially not two of my children. But that’s what happened.”
