“Amanda was sick with a 103-degree fever. She was told she had the ‘flu’ and was sent home from urgent care. Before being discharged, the nurse noticed her oxygen levels dropping rapidly. Her face turned blue. She was drowning in her own blood. If you spent just one moment in there, you would never look at a vape again.”
‘My best friend spent the past 2 weeks in the ICU thanks to a vape. Please don’t take the chance.’: Woman warns of ‘vaping dangers’ after friend nearly dies from vape-related lung injury
‘Have you been punched in the face?’ I was ‘mystery girl,’ being ‘strangled alive’ as my tongue blackened.’: Woman survives severe sepsis caused by infected, impacted wisdom tooth
“I was having a quiet dinner with a friend. It felt like I had bitten my tongue, but I ignored it and continued our night. Little did I know, the pain I was feeling was my first clue to something much more sinister. I snuggled into my winter pajamas and closed my eyes. Less than an hour later, I awoke choking, short of breath, with a numb feeling on my tongue. I remember the fear and panic in her eyes as I choked on the antihistamine. I knew it wasn’t good.”
‘You had the baby 15 days ago. You’re in the hospital.’ Was he kidnapped?’: Mom births baby in medically-induced coma after frightening flu symptoms, ‘They knew I was dying’
“I remember multiple vivid dreams of violent rape. As I woke, my ‘dreams’ transitioned to reality. The sorrow I felt was indescribable. I was devastated I’d missed those precious moments after birth. I wept, begged the doctors, ‘Please downgrade me out of the ICU so I can meet my baby!’ FINALLY, after 24 days in the hospital, I met my precious son. I smelled his skin. I’d almost died, and was now reunited with him.”
‘Yellow!’ Micah pointed to an adorable little chick with a big smile. Then, he spiked a 106 fever.’: Woman loses 3-year-old to Arthritis, ‘I am a mother, that will never change with time, space, or death’
“‘Are you SURE?’ I asked the doc, reading the report. ‘It would be like being struck by lightening TWICE. He’s fine.’ They were wrong. He was SICK. Sicker than any baby I’d seen. I walked into the PICU bathroom, shut the door. I screamed, moaned, punched the mirror, and cried the guttural tears of a mother who already knew how the story ends, because she’d lived it before. I was reliving my worst nightmare.”
‘I blacked out and collapsed. ‘We’re taking your baby,’ I heard someone say. I woke up not knowing where I was. I tried to tell them I was in pain, but couldn’t talk.’
“I saw nurses running back and forth. My parents waited for the helicopter to land. ‘They have to do surgery right now or she’ll die.’ My husband pulled over, went behind a building, and cried. ‘How am I going to raise 4 kids alone?!’ My oldest son was too scared to touch me. ‘I’m scared I’m going to hurt you, mama.’”
‘GOODNIGHT. LOVE YOU.’ A faint ‘love you’ left my mom’s lips back to me. Little did I know when I turned to leave, those would be her final words.’
“My brother requested we not prolong the inevitable. My dad, not wanting to believe, broke at that moment, and our lives forever changed.”
‘As we entered our street, the driver said, ‘Which house is it?’ Then he stopped mid-sentence. ‘Oh… never mind, you’ve got quite a crowd waiting.’’
“I looked out the ambulance window and started bawling as I saw the crowd so excitedly yelling for Ellie. I couldn’t help but think about heaven, and how I could taste a small glimpse of what it will be like.”
