What experience made you grow the fuck up?

My 3rd week of high school my freshman year I was stabbed in the knee with scissors by a friend. I was casually playing an MLB game on the PS3 and I felt a sharp jolt of pain. He laughed and said he didn't mean it, I called him a douche and thought that would be the end of it if I cleaned it out with alcohol. Fuck...I was so wrong.

Later that night I began to swell up, my knee was aching from bending or straightening it, and felt a higher than normal heat coming from that area. Being foolish as I was at the age I didn't mention it. The next morning, I woke up in the most excruciating pain I had ever felt, even to this day. All it took was a simple attempt at rolling over in bed for me the awaken from slumber and cause me to instantly wince in pain. I instantly went from a 180 degree position to 90 as the pain first set in. I was scared, concerned and couldn't help but have tears rolling down my face. I was trying to be quiet to not awaken my family and fell as I tried to get up. I crawled, literally dragging my leg across the floor reaching for the phone.

It felt like an hour later that I reached the phone and called my mother. She wasn't too concerned until I mentioned I couldn't move my leg. She rushed over and we went the the hospital. My white blood cell count was extremely high and they began to put me on antibiotics. The first one caused me to break out in hives, the next one that I was put on 15 minutes later caused me to break out in red-man syndrome. Extreme itching and being very uncomfortable. I was allergic to the first 2 medications, so why not a 3rd? After breaking out three times from the medications they decided I would have surgery.

Surgery went fine, the recovery was going so as well. One day I wake up and I've got a headache that I had never felt before. The raw power and strength of something caused in my head was unreal. I was bed ridden for days, no lights, no sounds, constant medicating using Ibuprofen, Tylenol, and over the counter headache medication I could get my hands on to help alleviate the constant pain. I went from playing football with my friends, to being home alone, crying and praying every night that the pain would stop and that I could have my life back.

I ended up having to be home schooled, wearing sun glasses indoors and outdoors whenever there was light. You never really understand the nature of light and pain until you've experienced migraines. Lights from the inside, reflections, head lights, stop lights, or even street lights were of major pain. Smells such as perfume, cologne, certain foods would instantly cause pain for several hours. Luckily after going to the Cincinnati Children's Medical Hospital I began receiving treatment.

I had lost all my friends, people I had been in touch with from sports, school and anywhere else after years of being pretty well known. No one was there for me. No prayers were answered during the four years this went on. I couldn't cry without pain, I had no release. I had no one to relate to, no one to talk to, and prayed and asked God to just let me die in my sleep. I knew the financial burden that I was causing on my parents and the amount of stress it was causing them.

It made me realize that life isn't fair. Things can happen in an instant and that no matter what you cannot judge or question when someone is clearly in pain, or the reasons in which they have to do certain things.

/r/AskReddit Thread