Motherhood may be exhilarating but it also can shake you in a way that nothing else can. Nothing! Here, 10 FOF women share their most frightening experiences as mothers.
“My 27-year- old daughter was driving down the freeway, and an SUV got on going the wrong direction and was being chased by several police cruisers. The wrong-way driver turned out to be a drug dealer trying to escape. He hit my daughter head on, when she was going 60 mph (the speed limit). He was going 110mph. He shattered her hip, and broke her femur and knee. Now she has more metal in her body than a grocery cart. She is a fighter though she walks with a bad limp. I always say ‘I love you’ to my daughters before hanging up the phone. I was mad at her at that time, and hadn’t spoken to her in a couple of weeks. When I got the phone call, I almost fainted. I’ll never be so mad at my daughters that I don’t say ‘I love you’ every day!”
Darlene Chavez Gonzalez
“My daughter was 26, and I got a call at work. Her voice seemed so little, and she said, ‘Mommy, I need you to talk to my doctor.’ The doctor explained to me that my daughter had a rare form of sarcoma, in the deep tissue at the back of her head, and it was malignant. After two surgeries and 43 days of radiation, she went into remission, which she’s been in for almost three years. I worry every single day that it will come back.”
Teresa Bernstein
“When my 15-year-old daughter had a stroke. Six months and several blood clots later, she was diagnosed with an ultra rare bone marrow failure disease (PNH). Then, she was diagnosed with a second BMFD, called Aplastic Anemia. She has a 10 percent chance of finding a bone marrow donor match. She’s now 21 and terminal. She’s too sick to live through a transplant.”
Donna Graves-Roll
“When my daughter was 6, she was hit by a car on the street where we lived. They didn’t think she was going to make it but my angel was a fighter and has grown up to be a beautiful 40-year- old woman. I believe in the power of prayer!”
Diane Illingworth