In our darkest moment, when fear and pain overwhelmed us, God’s presence was undeniable.
Through loss, near tragedy, and miraculous timing, we witnessed the power of prayer and community.
This is our story of heartbreak, hope, and the unwavering mercy of a faithful God.
What I am writing here is to testify for all that My GOD is IT. The Real Deal. The Healer of People and The Salvation of the human race. Trusting in Jesus is the only way to true life.
You all know we live a pretty transparent life. Danielle shares our life for our friends and family to see. We want people to know our joys and our struggles. We want people to know that life is not perfect but we trust in The One who is perfect. So, I want to be transparent with our struggles over the past month.
I went to three funerals last week. And I was unable to attend the service for another dear friend. Earlier this week I was thinking about the body of The Lord and our purpose. Our primary purpose being to love Him above all else. But a close second is to love each other. I’ve always made it a point to -BE Present- for those in their worst Moments of life. As believers, if we can’t be available for those we love during the worst times then what good are we really? As the body, you are literally Jesus to these hurting souls.
When I woke up Saturday morning, I had no idea that the Lord was about to place Danielle and I on the receiving end of this overwhelming love. Our family has been through a lot over the years, but the past 24 hours have been the most difficult moments of my life, hands down!
The fear of losing My World became a reality and I will never be the same.
Late august, Danielle told me that we were going to have another baby. I was over the moon with joy! So much so, as soon as I got home I started to demo parts of the upstairs of our house to create more living space for our growing family. The girls would have to share a room and so I was creating closets and eliminating hallways.
A few days before our divisional family camp, Fit for Mission, we found out the baby did not have a heart beat. We were at 10 1/2 weeks. It’s a tough punch to take. We were also told it is called a Missed Miscarriage. Danielle’s body still thought it was pregnant and continued as normal. We wanted to wait a week to hope and pray for a miracle. Perhaps the Lord would provide our baby with a beating heart. She had two other miscarriages over the years but not this far in.
The weekend was very challenging for Danielle. She was actually overseeing the child care and spent much of the weekend holding and caring for tiny babies. You all have no idea how gritty and strong this woman is. If they ever make a movie called “Beauty and Grit”, Danielle will be the main character.
We followed up Wednesday and unfortunately nothing had changed. We needed to make sure Danielle stayed healthy so it was time to take those steps. They gave us two options.
1. Pills for her to have a more “natural”process
2. Or, a procedure called D&C.
We thought the non surgical way was best at the time. Long story short, she took the pills (another story about obtaining them) and she thought the process worked through the weekend.
Two weeks later, she starts having issues and it was time to follow up. We go to the doctor Friday morning, and to our shock we learned that the baby is still in her womb. Apparently, at 10/11 weeks she should have had the D&C. The doctors gave her poor advice. But here we are. They scheduled the procedure for late next week and we were told all was well.
Now here is where My God decides how things will play out. Some people believe in luck,
Coincidence, karma, magic 8 balls, etc…But me and mine…we believe in The Truth! The One who sets everything in motion, names every star, and from Whom nothing is hidden. The One who calls my wife by name and says, “Danielle Delaney, you belong to ME. You are mine.” THE I AM holds my wife in His Strong and Righteous Hand.
We were at Camp Happyland this weekend. Saturday after lunch, Danielle begins to have cramps. What she’s really feeling are contractions. We finish up and she comes to me and says we need to leave and get home to our hospital two hours away. In the mix of this, one of the young people at camp is distraught about getting in trouble and runs off camp. He ends up about two miles down the road. It takes a good bit of time to track him down, manage him, and eventually get him into the corps van to make the ride home.
We go back to camp, get our things and high tail it out. On our way out, we get word that a corps van is at the gas station missing the fuel line that leads to the nozzle to the tank itself. Really? I’ve never heard of that happening. How random could that be?!
We pull up, none other than Commissioner Kelly Igleheart is under the van, and managing the situation. He’s still got it folks! My plan was to stop for a quick minute and then hit the road for Maryland. I get tied up helping and we make arrangements for the corps to travel home on a camp vehicle. The stop was much longer than a quick minute.
Then, the process of the miscarriage happens at the gas station. Danielle calls me to the car and we rushed out of the parking lot to the hospital. Danielle actually called her doctor because she thought it better to still drive to Maryland. 
As I’m rushing her to Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg the seat she is sitting in begins to fill with blood. A lot of blood. This crazy girl is still thinks she can make it to Maryland.
She is hemorrhaging. But she is still her normal self. The kids are in the back seat panicking. We pull up to the emergency room and as she gets out to walk inside, she collapses against the door. I’m holding her up and blood is pouring everywhere. Before that point, everything was calm. I suddenly realized my whole world was ending. I can’t describe the feelings that came over me. I began to scream for help over and over! I was a complete mess! They took her back asking me simple questions that I know but couldn’t figure out how to answer with my mouth.
When I returned to the car the kids were overwhelmed with seeing their mom literally bleeding to death and their dad completely broken. We prayed and prayed and prayed. They thought they had seen their mom alive for the last time and didn’t even get to say goodbye. Blood all over me, all over the car, all over the emergency room. My wife’s blood.
By some miracle, Kelsey Bridges was able to decipher my babbling phone call and managed to be there to grab the kids in maybe seven minutes! That’s The Body of Christ.
Nicole Parker managed to decode Danielle’s last text to her before getting out of the car and was already on her way to the hospital as well. When I got into the trauma room there were eight people working on Danielle, they had cut her clothes off, and were already pumping blood and fluids into her. Literally squeezing bags of blood and fluid into her. Later, we would find out that it is the only trauma hospital between camp and Northern VA. Meaning that no other hospital in the area would have been equipped to handle her needs.
God knew how hard headed Danielle and her husband can be. He knew that for some reason, we think we are super human and thought we could wait until we get to our Maryland hospital.
So HE set road blocks along the way.
Had our little friend not ran away from camp, had the corps van not randomly been missing the fuel hose (what?!?!)…we would have been in the middle of I-95 when Danielle started to hemorrhage. We would have been too far from
a hospital, let alone a trauma hospital.
We’ve had multiple doctors tell us that we arrived just in time. And had we been on the highway…Danielle would be dead.
The nurses and doctors managed to get Danielle’s body stable in great time. Nicole Parker was by Danielle’s side ministering in no time. That’s the Body of Christ.
And of course, her sister Dana Leigh Costello-Burriss wasn’t far behind in getting there and keeping the docs on track.
She would eventually receive the D&C late in the night to ensure the bleeding stopped and everything was clear. Her blood pressure was very low from the lack of blood and fluid in her body.
After the procedure, at 1am, Srikant “Superman” Bhatnagar shows up to be with us and pray. This man wouldn’t leave until he knew we were ok. Then he brings me McDonald’s breakfast at 4:30am! That’s the body of Christ.
The past two days have been very long. Danielle had to receive another unit of blood and more fluids on Sunday. But she is going in the right direction. We should be able to go home this morning. She couldn’t go another moment without brushing her teeth. She got right up when she woke up this morning.
We are thankful for the Bridges family and the The Salvation Army Fredericksburg Corps members. They provided laughter and peace to our kids in the midst of our chaos. Of course our The Salvation Army – Montgomery County, Maryland Corps family had a little party as soon as they heard the kids were home. That’s The Body of Christ.
Our Corps Officer, Timothy Jo, drove all the way down to bring us food and pray. And He prays! I genuinely feel The Holy Spirit in his prayer. It was so comforting and meaningful. We were literally at the throne of God. That’s The Body of Christ.
Danielle lost a lot of blood and has received 4 blood units, 9 fluid bags, and an iron bag. She is very tired and weak. They say she will be pretty weak for at least a week or more. It will take a month for her levels to get back to normal. But her trust is in The Lord! So, in her weakness she is strong. We will trust in The Lord.
We have experienced overwhelming love and compassion. In our time of overwhelming distress, we were loved and cared for by so many. Many cried out to God on our behalf and He has answered. Thank you so much for bringing my wife to the Throne of Grace. There has been a lot of pain in these 36 hours. But God has shown to be faithful to His faithful daughter.
Check out the pictures. Our children are blessed to have so many people who love them completely. This doesn’t even come close to representing all who reached out in prayer and to offer physical support.
How The Lord has blessed us so much that we are not even able to accept the offerings of help from so many others. We even had our own child coordinator in Bobby Parker to make sure our children were cared for. That’s the Body of Christ. Looks like David Mersiovsky and his amazing wife, Gloria Yi, won the prize to keep the Delaney kids. They need the practice!
There is no family like that of The Salvation Army. If you know you know. If you don’t, then come join our Army! This is the Body of Christ.
We trust that He will completely restore Danielle and use this moment in her life as a testimony of His great love for her and the entire human race. I continue to proclaim that GOD is GOD. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise!
My wife is alive. Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus for others who were your body in our time of distress!
Lastly, Mary Washington Hospital will forever be a place of rescue and light for us. The incredible staff here have been perfect. They treated Danielle as if she were the only person on the planet. They provided the lifesaving skills necessary to keep Danielle alive. Their trauma center is top notch. God! We thank you so much for brilliant people and science!
Some trust in chariots and others trust in horses. But we trust in the name of The LORD our GOD.