When a Diagnosis Changes Everything: A Collection of Stories from Mothers of Special Needs Children

Diagnosis. It’s a word that often doesn’t bring happy feelings.
Often, by the time you have gotten a diagnosis for your child, you’ve already climbed a mountain. You’ve sat by and watched your child slowly slip away, or present strange symptoms, or not progress typically on the milestone curve. And you felt fear—real, true fear, about what the differences might mean for your child’s future.
For some, the diagnosis might have come at birth—as a complete surprise. For others, the diagnosis might take years to discover—years of doctor visits, blood tests, specialists, and hospital stays. And for some very few, even after all those years of hoping and praying, a diagnosis remains unknown.
Whatever the path to your child’s diagnosis, there was a journey taken. You learned just how much you love your child—how far you are willing to travel to get answers so that unsettling feeling can leave your troubled soul. You kept climbing and reaching only to get to the top and realize that the diagnosis is only the beginning. Now real life can begin with your child, and, armed with more knowledge and support, you trudge down the other side, having no idea what awaits you. But you keep on walking, because that’s what mothers do.
In the following pages, eleven incredible mothers share their children’s diagnosis stories. Though each one is vastly different, one thing remains: a diagnosis changes everything.