MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — Sometimes a single event can change your life in more ways than you could ever imagine. That's exactly what's happened for one Rutherford County couple. Something has led them to change all their priorities.
Between dad Tyson Donaldson and sons Brody, Bryce, and Brett, mom Jennifer said with this many guys in one house, family game time is competition.
"Always! It's between them and him," Jennifer said, motioning toward her husband.
"We all assert our dominance at one time," laughed Tyson. "We'll see who's best!"
A few years ago, Tyson, a former Marine, was working in sales. Jennifer was a dental assistant. Everything seemed perfect.
"We were blessed," Jennifer said. "Healthy kids. We were happy."
In 2015, the Donaldsons learned they were having a little girl, Blakelyn. But there was something wrong in the ultrasound.
"They told us she had Turner syndrome, which is a defect on the X chromosome," said Jennifer. "She was completely missing that X chromosome."
At 23 weeks, Blakelyn's heart stopped.
"It changes your perspective on everything," Tyson said.
"You realize how precious life is, but it destroys you at the same time," said Jennifer.
"She is the first thing on our mind in the morning and the last thing when we go to bed," Tyson added.
What helped get this family through it was the kind words of an Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford nurse named Angela.
"Angela immediately told us she had also lost a daughter," Jennifer remembered. "She told us her story. Somebody knew what we were feeling, what we were going through."
Jennifer began thinking maybe she could be the Angela in other families' lives.
"I remember waking up one morning and thinking, 'I need to go back to school and become a nurse,'" she said.
Today, she's an RN with Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford. Tyson's life changed too.
"I'm now a firefighter with the city of Murfreesboro," he said.
The changes haven't stopped there. The family has started the Blakelyn Foundation, using events like a yearly 5K to help pay bills for families living through infant or pregnancy loss.
"Stillbirth and infant loss happens a lot more than people know," Jennifer said. "We wanted to take away that pain from other families."
"We got home and didn't get to bring our daughter home with us, and then the bills started piling in," said Tyson. "It's one less thing they have to worry about, so they can grieve."
A family, fiercely competitive, also does everything they can to carry on compassion, thanks to their little girl.
"Success is no longer important; it's, 'how can I help other people?'" Tyson said. "How can I ease burden in other people's lives?"
"We didn't want her to be forgotten about," Jennifer continued. "She was our child. She was real. We just wanted to carry on her name."
For more on the Blakelyn Foundation, visit here.
