Andrea Gunning

She'd experienced it before, but never this bad.

She was going days without sleeping.

I felt like if I can't sleep, how am I supposed to take care of the kids?

How am I supposed to get to work the next day?

It was awful.

Her doctors prescribed pills to help her sleep, but nothing seemed to work.

The only thing that made me feel better was alcohol, to be honest with you.

And now I realize that contributed, but it was survival to me at the time.

I just felt like I was fighting all the time just to stay alive.

What she was experiencing was severe, so much so that it began impacting her ability to do her job.

I had a friend at work who let me use her office just to go in and cry when my anxiety became so much.

After consulting with her doctors, she decided to take time off.

She started taking medical leave here and there.

Sometimes there'd be months when she couldn't go into the office.

My coworkers had to take on more cases.

These teenagers that I was really close with and really depended on me had to get switched to other workers.

I felt like I was letting down my kids, letting down everybody at work.

No matter how sick she got, Mike stood by her.

He encouraged her to try new meds and new treatments, anything to help her feel better.

He also made sure she was taking care of herself in other ways.