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“A balm for the soul”
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health reproductive rights

Joy

A husband took these photos of his wife and captured love and loss beautifully.

I feel as if I were right there with them as I looked through the photos.

Snuggles.

When I saw these incredible photos Angelo Merendino took of his wife, Jennifer, as she battled breast cancer, I felt that I shouldn't be seeing this snapshot of their intimate, private lives.

The photos humanize the face of cancer and capture the difficulty, fear, and pain that they experienced during the difficult time.



But as Angelo commented: "These photographs do not define us, but they are us."

empathy, human condition, health

Having a cold one.

assets.rebelmouse.io

cancer, compassion, connection

A challenging journey.

assets.rebelmouse.io

medicine, treatment, insurance

The doctor’s office.

assets.rebelmouse.io

hair, radiation, treatments

Hair falling out.

assets.rebelmouse.io

side effects, humanity, reproductive rights

Shaving the hair off.

assets.rebelmouse.io

bald, emotional challenges, fear

Sitting in the window.

assets.rebelmouse.io

assisted walking, wa

Sunny day on the sidewalk

assets.rebelmouse.io

moms, daughters, touches

Compassion touches in the car.

assets.rebelmouse.io

pets, companions, malignancy

Pets for comfort.

assets.rebelmouse.io

ocean, beach, floating

Floating in the ocean.

celebrations, friendship, aging

Birthday celebration.

depression, disease, sickness

A time to rest.

patient, doctor, quiet

​Getting more treatment

hospital room, chemo therapy, chemo

Family present.

tolerance, quiet, peac

Thoughts in a hospital room.

contact, relationship, allies

A loving hand.

ambulance, life expectancy, friends

An ambulance trip.

nurses, hospice workers, funny

A little smirk.

health, contentedness, blessings

Home again.

sorrow, sadness, peace

Last rights.

anguish, heartache, misery

An empty bed.

funeral, funeral procession, grief

A lonely road.

pain, loss

“I loved it all."

This article originally appeared on 11.5.13

Health

Her mother doesn't get why she's depressed. So she explains the best way she knows how.

Sabrina Benaim eloquently describes what it's like to be depressed.

Sabrina Benaim's “Explaining My Depression to My Mother."

Sabrina Benaim's “Explaining My Depression to My Mother" is pretty powerful on its own.

But, in it, her mother exhibits some of the most common misconceptions about depression, and I'd like to point out three of them here.

Misconception #1: Depression is triggered by a single event or series of traumatic events.

empathy, human condition, humanity

Depression isn’t just over sleeping.

Most people think depression is triggered by a traumatic event: a loved one dying, a job loss, a national tragedy, some THING. The truth is that depression sometimes just appears out of nowhere. So when you think that a friend or loved one is just in an extended bad mood, reconsider. They could be suffering from depression.

Misconception #2: People with depression are only sad.

family, parents, mom, anxiety

The obligation of anxiety.

Most people who have never experienced depression think depression is just an overwhelming sadness. In reality, depression is a complex set of feelings and physical changes in the body. People who suffer from depression are sad, yes, but they can also be anxious, worried, apathetic, and tense, among other things.

Misconception #3: You can snap out of it.

button poetry, medical condition, biological factors

Making fun plans not wanting to have fun.

The thing with depression is that it's a medical condition that affects your brain chemistry. It has to do with environmental or biological factors first and foremost. Sabrina's mother seems to think that if her daughter would only go through the motions of being happy that then she would become happy. But that's not the case. Depression is a biological illness that leaks into your state of being.

Think of it this way: If you had a cold, could you just “snap out of it"?

No? Exactly.

empathy, misconceptions of depression, mental health

Mom doesn’t understand.

via Button Poetry/YouTube

These are only three of the misconceptions about depression. If you know somebody suffering from depression, you should take a look at this video here below to learn the best way to talk to them:

This article originally appeared on 11.24.15

Politics

Back in 2015 Trevor Noah blew Jon Stewart's mind with these side-by-side trivia photos

Wondering how Trevor Noah become the Daily Show host? Watch this.

Trevor Noah plays a revealing trivia game with Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show."

This article originally appeared on 01.22.15


Trevor Noah, one of the newest correspondents on "The Daily Show," hails from South Africa.

As a South African now living in the U.S., he wants to set the record straight about Africa.

via Comedy Central/YouTube

Noah invited his new boss and their viewers to see a different side of Africa by playing a game. You can play along too.

The instructions are simple: Guess which photo was taken in Africa and which one was in the U.S.

Round 1


via Comedy Central/YouTube

Stewart gave a reasoned response:

"The beautiful highway there on the right is probably Silicon Valley. ... The one on the left, clearly been shelled by rebels. I'm going to go with ... Somalia, maybe?"

Answer:

via Comedy Central/YouTube

This time, Stewart was pretty confident:

"OK, this one's easy. On the left there, that's the Success Academy in Harlem. On the right there, we got ... homeless kids. I'm going to go with, uhh, in Somalia again."

Answer:

via Comedy Central/YouTube

Stewart thought he was starting to catch on:

"I get how this works now. The one on the right, that's Detroit."

Answer:

via Comedy Central/YouTube

OK, so Africa isn't just the giant mass of despair it's often made out to be. But what exactly is Noah getting at?

So let's stop paternalizing all of Africa. Our country has its own problems to deal with.

There's more. And it's really funny. Watch the video below:


More

Her baby had a secret. She learned it on the day she died.

Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect, affecting 1 in 110 babies. Many of them don't show up on an ultrasound. Pulse ox screening could help doctors discover and repair heart defects before they turn deadly. Sounds like a good idea to me. Warning: This is the tragic story of a baby who died. It includes an image of her shortly before her death.

This article originally appeared on 02.07.15


Taryn looked perfectly healthy when her parents brought her home. She was growing — thriving, even.

Then one day, the baby made a strange sound. Her breathing became difficult. Her mom called 911 and started CPR.

Taryn died that night in the hospital. She had a heart defect, but no one had thought to check her heart before it stopped working.


Less than 50% of congenital heart defects are diagnosed before birth.

A baby who appears healthy might have a heart that is moments away from stopping.

Luckily, there is a simple, inexpensive, and non-invasive screening called pulse oximetry.

A pulse oximeter shines a red light through the baby's toe, and reports the oxygen levels in the blood. Low levels are cause for further investigation. Practically all hospitals have pulse oximeters on hand.

In 2011, New Jersey became the first state to require pulse ox screening as part of the standard tests a newborn receives. As a result of this screening, over the following three years, 13 babies were diagnosed with a heart defect that could have been fatal if left undetected.

Since 2011, many states have added pulse ox to their newborn screening protocol. Here's a handy map to see if yours is one of them. If you live in one of the seven states that doesn't have a law requiring it, pulse ox should still be available to you in most hospitals. Ask your doctor.

If a law like this could save families from preventable heartbreak at minimal cost, it seems like common sense to me.

Feb. 7-14, 2015, is Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week.

I don't want you to freak anyone out, but could you maybe spread the awareness by sharing this? You never know whose life you could be saving.

Warning: The auto-generated captions on this video are awful and in some cases upsetting. Upworthy neither makes them nor has the ability to control them. However, if you scroll down below the video and click "Show Transcript," you'll see an Upworthy-created version that is much better.