After miscarriage, near-death experience, Tennessee woman finds healing on hiking trail

By Amanda Hara

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    LEBANON, Tennessee (WSMV) — At first glance, Bethany Harrison seems unburdened on the hiking trail, but really, she carries a heavy weight that nearly knocked her off course.

“I miscarried at about nine weeks,” Harrison told WSMV4′s Amanda Hara. “I remember walking out of the hospital, it was raining and I dropped to my knees. I remember feeling so sad and everyone walking around me not realizing that my world had just ended.”

Bethany described the loss as devastating, “I had done all the right things. I had gone to college, had a job, got married, did everything like it was supposed to go and that was not an outcome I fathomed was possible until it happened.”

There’s a good chance you’ve passed someone just like Bethany and had no idea. On the street, in traffic, on a trail. For women who know they’re pregnant, about 10 to 20 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage, according to the March of Dimes.

Bethany remembered experiencing symptoms of depression like not wanting to get out of bed and disinterest in things that used to bring her joy.

“When bad things happen to us, we have to find ways to survive and heal. You found healing in the mountains?” Amanda asked Bethany. “It’s always been a home away from home,” explained Bethany, who grew up vacationing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “This is the only place I wanted to go when I lost the baby.”

After the miscarriage, Bethany felt she was defective in some way because her body did not support the pregnancy. The simple act of walking, in a place she loves, helped her feel whole.

“To feel like I was capable of something and making it to the end of a trail, and sweating, it just made me feel alive,” she said.

Little did she know, she would find a lesson in the regrowth happening along the trails that were charred by deadly wildfires. In 2016, fires consumed the mountainside and hollers, killing 14 people and destroying homes and businesses, forever changing the landscape.

“It wasn’t long before new growth happened. Seeing the new life has been life-giving for me. Walking through rebirth, it’s very hopeful and just a beautiful picture of how time moves on, in a really beautiful way,” explained Bethany.

Eventually, Bethany too began to grow with a new pregnancy, and an added surprise.

“They said, ‘Well there’s baby A and there’s baby B.’ I busted out laughing, it was the most joyful moment! I had longed for this and I had prayed for this and there was not one baby but there were two babies,” recalled Bethany.

Jack was born first and Bethany considers him the dominant twin. Wade was born second. She became pregnant with the twins two years after her miscarriage.

The hikes in the Smokies continued after the twins were born. The walks, although sweeter, slowed just a little to match the pace of two toddlers. Until they stopped altogether.

“I never thought for a moment things were going to go like they did,” remembered Bethany.

Bethany became pregnant again but quickly learned of the life-threatening complications for her and the baby.

“His intestines were separated from his bowels so he wasn’t ingesting amniotic fluid during pregnancy,” said Bethany.

The baby’s placenta was implanted into her bladder. She wasn’t sure whether she’d survive the delivery or bleed to death. On top of that, she’d have to undergo surgery to deliver alone. Pandemic rules meant her husband couldn’t be with her.

“I literally remember calling him and saying, ‘Hey we’re having the baby. I’ll see you when I wake up.’ Never thought for a moment things were going to go like they did.”

Doctors performed the surgery at Nashville’s Ascension St. Thomas Hospital Midtown. When Bethany woke up she was on a ventilator and had suffered blood loss, “I found out I lost 26 units and my body holds about 10. They had to stop the surgery and pack my abdomen. They left me open and then they went back in to finish the hysterectomy two days later.”

Because Bethany was on a ventilator and couldn’t speak, she used handwritten notes to communicate with her husband.

She also wrote notes to check the status of their new baby Banks, who was sent to a different hospital for care and treatment, “I asked if he was cute and John said, ‘Yes, he’s very cute.’”

After recovering from the hysterectomy and healing from a massive abdominal scar, Bethany returned to the mountains with all three children in tow.

“No one sees me walking on a trail and knows the great gift it is for me to be back on a trail, walking trails. It’s something that felt natural to come back to and it’s been really rewarding to hike little trails and say, ‘Okay I’m not dying right now, win!’”

About 50,000 women will experience a high-risk pregnancy every year, according to Cleveland Clinic. Bethany hopes her story inspires others to keep moving forward.

“They called me the girl that lived,” remarked Bethany. “One of my doctors looked at me and said you’re the girl that lived. Now I hope to make a believer out of them that I really lived, and really lived well.”

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