“My empty space in photographs was an open wound; I’d cry scrolling through Instagram, feeling left out and forgotten, wondering when things would change. I’ve read time and again people are grateful for their illness because it’s shown them who their true friends are. But what do you do when your illness proves you had almost no true friends at all?”
I Got Chronically Ill At 19, And All My Friends Abandoned Me
‘Are you scared?’ she asked. Breathless, I whispered to my mom, ‘No. It’s time to rally.’ I was so close to death.’: Woman with cystic fibrosis ‘in awe’ after gifted new lungs on verge of death, ‘the kindness of a stranger saved my life!’
“The meds had stopped working – time was running out. The call came at just the right time. I remember doubling over, nauseous with the news I’d just received: ‘They have a match for lungs.’ I needed to be transported to Boston IMMEDIATELY. I crouched down by my hospital bed, struck with the magnitude of the situation. As prepared as I was, nothing could get me ready for this moment. I couldn’t catch my breath.”
‘Hi, I was 5 minutes away from calling you.’ Our baby’s heart was not sitting on the left side of her chest, but shifted to the right side. My stomach dropped with those words.’
“Silently, he began drawing on a blank piece of paper. When he was done, he turned to us, showed us his drawing, and began explaining what our future would look like. I started bawling. But we knew we needed to do it.”
‘To every child that has walked in these doors but never walked back out again, I am sorry.’ Father of a boy who has been coming to this Children’s Hospital for 8 YEARS pens emotional note
“I have loved these doors and hated these doors. The other day, walking through them again, I was struck with a different feeling: guilt. I realized I need to apologize.”
