A pregnant woman had suffered miscarriages before and was thrilled to be expecting a baby boy, but everything went wrong a few months into the pregnancy. The woman went into the hospital hoping to leave with her child and life, but she left childless and without some limbs.
On November 25, 2016, Callie Colwick appeared in a lovely Instagram photo of herself, her husband, and their child. In the post, the couple held a sheet revealing they’d prayed for the child Callie was carrying as she cradled her growing baby bump.
In the post’s caption, the woman shared how she and her husband had many things to be grateful for on Thanksgiving. One of those things was the child growing inside her, whom they expected in June 2017.
Callie said the message they held in her picture was a bible scripture in the book of Samuel and that they’d “definitely” prayed for the child she was carrying. The pregnant woman confessed to losing two of their upcoming child’s siblings.
She admitted that she and her husband were worried about losing their child and asked people to keep them and others who’d experienced miscarriages in their prayers. What Callie didn’t expect was to wake up at the hospital to the most heartwrenching news she’d ever heard.
What Happened to Callie When She Was Rushed to the Hospital?
Callie met and fell in love with her husband, Kevin Colwick, in high school. In 2011, the couple finally tied the knot before welcoming their daughter, Kenzi Rae, in 2015, whom they described as their “bright ray of sunshine.”
After welcoming their first child, they struggled with miscarriages before a miracle happened – they were pregnant with a new baby. The couple waited until the second trimester, and when they were confident, the pregnancy had stuck before telling people about it.
Not long afterward, the mother of one sadly started going through complications. Four months into her pregnancy, Callie visited a doctor after experiencing pregnancy complications with her son Quinn.
The doctor immediately sent her to a hospital, expecting her to give birth at any moment. Her admission to the hospital happened in early December 2016, and after weeks of fighting for Quinn’s life, Kevin’s wife’s body went into septic shock.
Doctors later realized that her condition was due to a rare E.coli infection that began in Callie’s uterus. Kevin never left his wife’s side as they continued praying for a miracle, but the stakes were against them.
On December 25, 2016, Kenzi visited her mother in the hospital, giving her happiness and hope for a better outcome. However, Callie’s abdomen was sore the following day, and her world “suddenly” darkened.
Her body shut down as her organs failed, and her son was delivered weighing half a pound while she was unconscious. Quinn couldn’t live outside his mother’s womb, and his mother was rushed to surgery when she started hemorrhaging blood.
Kevin stayed behind to mourn the loss of their son alone in the hospital room, wondering if he’d ever see his wife again. In an interview, Callie’s husband confessed, “Time stopped for one fleeting hour as I took in every single second I had with Quinn,” before adding:
“Memorizing his beautiful face, holding his tiny hands… knowing I’d never get to see my son Earth-side again.”
Twenty-seventeen saw the mother of one fighting for her life with endless months in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Callie ate through tubes and underwent surgeries like amputations, a hysterectomy, and reconstruction.
She also breathed through a machine, and her husband remained her most prominent advocate through it all. During the first two months of her ICU stay, Kenzi’s mother suffered blood loss, which left her with severe tissue damage.
Kevin fought for her knees to be kept when doctors said they needed to amputate both legs. Waking up to find out her child was gone and legs as well was a big hit for Callie, but through her husband’s love and support, she conquered all the grief and found happiness again.
How Callie Survived and Reinvented Her Life?
By March 2018, Kevin’s wife had returned home, but her journey to complete recovery was still long. Without legs, Callie needed time to learn how to move again and started with things like holding a glass of water and sitting up.
When she was stronger, her physical therapy proceeded further, and a year after returning home, Kenzi’s mother could stand on her knees! After that, she visited the Hanger Clinic with an interest in prosthetics.
Years before, she watched Kenzi learn to take her first steps, not anticipating that the roles would change one day. Her daughter not only watched her mother learn to walk again, but she also cheered her on!
By 2022, Callie was walking, writing a documentary about her story, traveling, writing a children’s book, and sharing her incredible story! She and Kevin were also in the process of adopting, waiting to be picked!
The love of her life [Kevin Colwick] slept at the foot of her [Callie Colwick] hospital bed in a small cot and kept watch on her.
Her reflection on that year’s Mother’s Day was her gratitude for the small things and being “blessed” to be alive. Callie believed medically she wasn’t supposed to survive, but she had and could now watch her daughter grow up.
Kevin’s wife recalled being unable to breathe independently or move as she lay watching the sunlight shine through her window in the ICU. She remembered thinking about how she’d found her “one beautiful thing.”
For 2021’s Valentine’s Day, Callie shared a lovely picture of her sporting long pink hair as her husband carried her in his arms. She confessed that she wouldn’t be around if it weren’t for Kevin’s love and his fighting for her when doctors had given up.
Callie said he spent a year in her ICU room learning how to better care for her. He fought for her to keep her knees and the fingers she had due to him messaging them lovingly, so blood flowed.
The love of her life slept at the foot of her hospital bed in a small cot and kept watch on her. Kevin’s hair grew long, and his beard was unkempt as a sign of his “lamenting heart,” with Callie feeling blessed for his love.
The mother of one also felt entirely accepted and loved by her best friend. In September 2018, Callie shared another Instagram image of her husband carrying her in his arms before they had Kenzi, and she lost her legs.
The amputee admitted that she always loved it when Kevin carried her, but it wasn’t something he often did. Callie said it made her feel like a princess when he did, jokingly adding, “I guess on the plus side of losing my feet now I get to be swooshed up in his loving embrace daily.”
