Just a brief rundown of how you coped with adversity, and became stronger as a result. I will post my story later. I thought it might be therapeutic at this time to focus on our collective ability to cope.

It was those amazing people around me and seeing what they had been through that shaped me. My Mom raising us after Dad died and tough times that she didn't let us know about. Combat Veterans who like my Mom were optimistic and never complained. Looking back at what was poverty and prejudice that were met with love and resilience. I payed attention.

^^^^^^^
Thanks. Inspiring.

Divorce (2x) job loss, bankruptcy and homeless. That was 1992 - 1995. Bounced back. It took a hell of a lot of work, but I'm (we are) in a very solid place. The details of the whole ordeal would make most of you yawn. So I won't post them. I'm a veteran but did not serve in wartime.

I fractured my back while hiking on Mt. Hood in Oregon years ago. Slipped and fell/bounced about 20’. I was with my wife and we were nearly at the highest point in our hike (above timberline). I lied there for about 30 min, unable to move my legs.. scared to death and in terrible pain. I was a paramedic at the time. I started to get the feeling back in my legs slowly and gradually got to my feet. I knew I either had to walk out or be flown out. It took nearly three hours to get down, bracing myself with two walking poles and stopping to puke ever so often. Once down, we went straight to the ER and was diagnosed with an L4 compression fracture.
That was easily the most physically painful thing I’ve ever endured. I can’t say I’ve bounced back too much, but have become fairly resilient to constant pain over the years

Can I share my brothers story? At the age of 12 he was misdiagnosed with tendonitis and continued to cause damage to his hip. As the pain continued a sports medicine doctor eventually recognized he actually had an incredibly rare degenerative hip disorder initiated by a disruption of blood flow to the head of the femur. Due to the lack of blood flow, the bone dies.

My mother went to eleven doctors and they all had horrible recommendations some even mentioned the possibility of amputation and they all said he would never walk normal again due to the severe damage already caused to the bone. Imagine being 12 years old and loving to play soccer then hearing this. Talk about soul crushing news.

My amazing mother absolutely refused to accept that and called every specialist she could find until she came across a true miracle worker in Baltimore Maryland. My brother had to have an external fixator on his leg which is basically metal pins that go into your skin and screw into the bone. He was in traction for a VERY long time to give the femur a chance to heal and not cause any more damage. After multiple surgeries and pain you cannot imagine he came out the other end of the tunnel.

My brother can walk just fine today although he does have a bit of a limp.

*** updated the info after taking to my mother this morning***

Great stories. Keep them coming!

Paralysis was hard to overcome. Learning to walk again took some time.

Gave me a new perspective of who I am and how some things meant more now than they did before.

My son in law was born with a bad leg. He spent the year he was 11 at Shriner's having multiple surgeries. He's badly scarred and walks with a limp, and sometimes wears a brace, but we toured France and Spain in 2015, walking 10 to 12 miles a day. We take another trip next summer.

When he was 30 he met my daughter. He weighed 560 pounds. She said she would date him when he hit 300 pounds. They're married now with a 5 year old, he's 6'4" and about 250.

We disagree on many things, but my daughter couldn't have found a better guy to have kids with.

In my ~50yrs I've been stabbed, hit in the head with an aluminum baseball bat, in a few dozen or more street or bar or schoolyard fights as a younger guy, once had 98% of everything I owned stolen in a home burglary years ago, once built a house I've never spent a night in, once got fucked over by a business partner in the music industry that has cost me about 3 million bucks and counting, spent the first half of my life with no help for one of my maladies - now better, and spent the first 48yts of my life with no help for two other issues - now on the mend, went to nothing but garbage public schools growing up, and I come from generally lovely but poor and uneducated people, then I eventually went to a mid tier State University, and despite all that and more I manage to be and do pretty okay.

I am a bit prickly, tho.

This is my truck, 10 years ago after I hit a 30" diameter tree head on going abut 40. As kids, most of us were innoculated for pertussis (whooping cough). I found out the hard way that over decades, the vaccination can wear off. I had a bad cough after getting over a cold; it hung on for weeks. I found out that one can cough so hard that one can pass out, when driving this is bad as you will note by the photo of my truck. I survived, but I believe it wrecked my hip and knee joints; after the accident they started getting increasingly more painful, within a few years of the accident I had both hip joints and one knee joint replaced. One every 6 months. The joint pain before and the physical therapy after were difficult, but I persevered. Today I am pain free and back to my favorite outdoor activities. The accident also made me appreciate many things I had taken for granted.

Wow. Glad you are pain free.

I just tell myself -- no matter how bad you think you got it -- somebody has it worse.

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Fifteen years ago my life was turned upside down. My business of over 20 years was destroyed and my house had fifty thousand dollars worth of damage. It would be months before an adjuster came by with any money. Luckily, Uncle Sam allowed an extension on taxes{no forgiveness,just time to pay} and I got a roof back on in four months. One grocery store was open, no restaurants and most of my friends were in campers or tents. A few months later, both of my parents died. I was then diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer. Surgery and six months of chemo, which was pure hell.

In time my business and my health recovered. I know that I am stronger and wiser having gone through tough times.

Mrs DF and I had our lives turned upside down. The details are boring but we lost everything and my business was destroyed by fraud. We had to start over. We worked like dogs and reinvented ourselves. All of these years later I can see it made us stronger.

Grew up with an abusive, violent, mentally ill mother.

Had a hard time in school from bullies.

Lost my father in 1994 when I was 29. Watched him die in sheer agony from cancer. At the same time our home was destroyed by a flood.

Wife divorces me after 11 years in 2007, took everything.

Blew whistle on school system in 2007. Had to start a new career with nothing.

One thing I neglected to mention is that in the thick of our difficulties -the most dire we could have imagined- when I compared my problems to those of others, I was grateful I didn't have their problems. What I learned was that we are strengthen though trials. To the extent that we aspire to be ever stronger, we should welcome hardship and attack it with gusto. That has been my guiding principle since. It has served us well so far.

Summer 2012 was probably the most difficult of my life.

I was turning 40 years old, which I was happy about, and I had lost about 50 lbs over the previous 18 months and was probably in better shape than at any point in my life. I also had a 4 year old and 6 month old at home, which was great, but does add to the stress.

However, I got a call on June 1st being released from one of my companies as their independent sales rep. They were about 25-30% of my income.

Then my wife's grandmother was hospitalized and came a whisker away from death.

Then we lost a cat to cancer that we had had for 12 years.

Then my father called me (lived 1,000 miles away) to let me know he had been diagnosed with small cell lung cancer.

Then my wife's parents marriage exploded and they separated.

We traveled to see my Dad, and try to have somewhat of a vacation, and on July 1st a second company cut ties, and I lost another 15-20% of my income.

All of that happened in 30 days. When my 40th birthday came around later in July, I could barely enjoy it, I was just in a fog.