Story and Photography by Caroline Maxcy Fox

Last fall, on a family trip to visit my in-laws in Tennessee, I experienced an unexpected medical emergency. I woke up to excruciating pain, started passing out repeatedly with plummeting blood pressure and was rushed to the hospital via ambulance through the winding mountain roads. I watched out the back windows as the brilliance of fall passed behind me. Those colors in the trees were why we took the trip, but little did I know it was so much more than that. The sweet Lord was putting me in the right place at the right time for a major part of my life story (or “staying alive” story) that was about to unfold.

That day, in a Tennessee mountain hospital, I had emergency surgery after what turned out to be a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and massive internal bleeding. In the recovery room, the doctors, looking at me as if it was a miracle I was alive, said that they were shocked things didn’t turn out worse. They pointed to a few factors that played a major role in the outcome:

1 – The speed at which I got to the hospital. This is thanks to my angel of a mother-in-law who noticed the signs, sensed the severity of things and rushed to make decisions that potentially saved my life.

2 – The way in which my overall good health and fitness enabled my body to handle the extreme stress and trauma. It could have and should have been much worse. That day, my general wellness potentially saved my life.

Read the full article on Issuu >> Apr-May 2025 Issue