Shannon Hackett, 40, and Bernard “Bern” Clark, 44, had been anticipating a special moment for weeks.
“We told our photographer so she could be prepared to capture everyone’s reactions,” Shannon told Newsweek. “I just kept picturing everyone’s reactions—the shock and joy. Many knew about our struggles with IVF, and I was just so excited to see everyone’s face.”
For Bern, the plan was to make the announcement at the end of his groom’s speech. “I was going to thank everyone for coming—especially my family and friends who had made the trip from the U.K.—and then surprise them with the news,” he said.
But what started as the happiest celebration of their lives soon turned into a nightmare.
“To go from planning the happiest celebration of your life to sitting in the ICU waiting room, expecting to be told your wife-to-be has died, is easily the biggest and most significant state of shock in my life,” Bern continued. “One minute I’m putting the finishing touches on a groom’s speech; the next, I’m contemplating giving a eulogy.”
This unimaginable turn of events began on August 16, when Shannon was hospitalized with severe abdominal pain at 14 weeks pregnant. What doctors couldn’t initially detect was an aneurysm in one of the arteries supplying her uterus that was about to rupture.
“The pain came consistently in waves, with serious painkillers barely making a difference,” she recalled. “No diagnostic tests could find anything wrong. We had four ultrasounds checking on the health of the babies, and each time they were fine.”
However, at 8 a.m. that Tuesday morning, the aneurysm burst. Shannon lost so much blood so rapidly that her heart stopped.
“Bern was allowed to speak to me as they rushed me down to surgery,” she said. “While he did not know I was awake because I was unable to communicate, I heard his voice, him telling me how much he loved me and to come back to him.”
Shannon required two rounds of CPR, 64 units of blood, and three emergency surgeries—including a C-section and hysterectomy to stop the bleeding. Sadly, their twins, John and William, named after their grandfathers, were lost.
Doctors described Shannon’s survival as nothing short of miraculous.
“Had this hospital not had a mass infusion machine, I would not have survived,” she said. “I am one of around 150 documented cases of this ever happening, and most did not survive.”
Bern remembers every harrowing moment vividly.
“Shannon started saying that everything was starting to go dark,” he said. “I remember holding her head and feeling how clammy it was, how it felt limp in my hands. I remember how deathly grey she looked. Then Shannon lost consciousness. The next thing I knew, a doctor had leapt onto the bed and started chest compressions. I thought I had just watched the love of my life die in my arms.”
After Shannon’s first surgery, a surgeon told Bern: “She’s alive. It’s a miracle.”
In an incredible turn of events, the couple married in the hospital that same week. Nurses cleared out the largest room in the labor and delivery wing, decorated it with flowers and photos, and even attended the ceremony.
Their wedding day, while far from what they had envisioned, became “a way to declare to the world and to everyone we loved that we were stronger because of our trials,” Shannon said.
The couple’s journey to parenthood has been marked by both heartbreak and resilience. Their first pregnancy ended in miscarriage at six and a half weeks; their second pregnancy—the twins—ended in tragedy.
Now, with one remaining embryo and with Shannon no longer able to carry a pregnancy, surrogacy is their only hope.
Through their GoFundMe page, Shannon and Bern are seeking help to pursue that dream.
“The generosity of friends, family, and strangers has just been overwhelming,” Shannon shared. “We have a long way to go, but every time I look and see the amount ticking up—particularly all the 13s from my fellow Swifties—my heart just swells with gratitude.”
So far, they have raised more than $16,000.
For now, Shannon and Bern are focusing on healing with therapy, family support, and the love they have for each other.
“Our pursuit of a surrogacy pregnancy is a hail Mary of its own,” Bern said. “The odds are stacked against us, but they were stacked against us that Tuesday morning when Shannon nearly bled out internally. Improbable things can happen—good and bad—but we know that we’re capable of confronting and overcoming them.”
https://www.newsweek.com/bride-plans-twin-pregnancy-reveal-wedding-not-knowing-tragedy-to-come-11028443
