Second 'little miracle' arrives against all odds

Dr. Melita Bradley holds her two sons, Hughes, 2, and Sam, 8 weeks. (T-G Photo by John Philleo) [Order this photo]

Dr. Melita Bradley, a Shelbyville native, understands both concepts well. Melita's bittersweet journey with love, loss and renewed life began when she met Dr. Donald Hughes Bradley Jr.

The perfect pair

"We were a match," Melita said, of Don. "We were perfect for each other ... best friends and absolutely in love with each other."

Melita, a pediatrician at Murfreesboro Medical Clinic and Middle Tennessee Medical Center, was 38 at the time, and Don, an OB/GYN, also at MMC and MTMC, was 50. They got married and lived together in Murfreesboro.

Don had adult children from a previous marriage, but Melita wanted children -- and so did Don.

"I always knew I wanted kids," she said. "I always told Don, 'We're going to have two boys.'"

Donald and Melita Bradley with their son Hughes, whom Melita says was the love of his father's all-too-short life. (Submitted photo)

Making a family

Through in vitro fertilization, Melita's dream of having children came true when Hughes Bradley was born in March 2007.

"(Don) just worshiped that baby," Melita said. "And we both felt strongly that he should have a sibling with which to grow up."

The couple planned to try for another child in January of 2008.

But they would never make their second trip to the Nashville Fertility Clinic. Melita's world, as she knew it, came crashing down in November 2007, seven months after Hughes was born and 2 months before they planned to try for baby number two.

The perfect day

The brisk November Saturday in 2007 had been perfect. Both doctors, off for the day, enjoyed the afternoon at their farm prior to cleaning out their garage, and making a trip to Goodwill.

Melita and Don, and their 7-month-old son, enjoyed dinner out, prior to making a last-minute diaper run to Target before putting Hughes to bed.

"Don looked at me and said, 'Today has been the perfect day. I've got my girl,' that's what he'd say, 'I've got my girl and I've got my boy.'"

Tragedy strikes

Around midnight, Don walked upstairs to the couple's bedroom and told Melita he wasn't feeling well.

He was hot, short of breath, and said something "felt funny" across his chest, although he said he wasn't in pain.

He went outside to get some fresh air, and while he was out there, Melita said "something just told me I had better get ready (to go to the hospital)."

While Don seemed perfectly healthy and had frequent check-ups, Melita was not blind to the fact that he was getting older -- and the symptoms probably meant something.

"I told him, 'you're a 50-year-old male. We're going in.'"

Out of time

As Melita got ready to call someone to watch Hughes, Don sat on the edge of their bed uncomfortably.

Thinking he was having a heart attack, Melita called 9-1-1 and told them to bring all the necessary equipment to save his life.

As it turned out, Don had suffered from a pulmonary embolism, a blockage of the pulmonary artery or one of its branches, that usually occurs when a blood clot from a vein becomes dislodged from its site of formation and travels to the arterial blood supply of the lungs.

Emergency crews worked on him, but they never got a heartbeat.

"He was gone," she said, quietly.

Tough decisions

As terrible as it was losing Don, and as much as she grieved over the loss of her soulmate, Melita knew she had to move forward, for the sake of her son.

"I thought, 'I don't want Hughes to go through life sad,'" she said. "I can be a mom, but I can't be a dad or a sibling."

After a great deal of thought, Melita decided to try for her second son, something she and Don had planned to do together.

The clinic still had a small amount of Don's sperm from their first In Vitro procedure.

Doctors incubated seven of Melita's embryos -- only one of which was healthy.

This meant that the chances of Melita becoming pregnant were very, very slim.

When doctors told Melita they only had one viable embryo, her heart sank.

"I said, 'God, if you mean for it to happen, let it be.'"

A waiting game

After transferring the embryo into Melita's uterus, she was on bed rest for a few days.

On day seven, Melita "snuck into work a little early for a blood test."

The night before the blood test was one of the longest nights of Melita's life.

"I was nervous and tearful," she said. "I was in church, and people probably thought I was a nut ... I knew my life would change -- one way or the other."

Melita recalls trying to read the expression on the lab technician's face when the bloodwork came in.

As she approached Melita, her friend, the technician, nodded her head, and Melita instantly felt chill bumps run up her body.

Keeping it quiet

For the next six weeks, Melita told almost no one what she had done.

Then, she bravely told her in-laws, Don's parents, about everything.

"I told them this was something Don and I had planned ... I didn't want to live my life saying, 'I should have done it.'"

Melita believes the success -- against all odds -- of the procedure working was an act of God.

Throughout the pregnancy, Melita said she saw a lot of "raised eyebrows." Melita had to explain to several folks that no, she had not gotten remarried so soon after Don's death -- and that she was pregnant with her late husband's baby.

Miracles do happen

"(This) wasn't up to us," she said, referring to the slim odds of a successful pregnancy. "But it worked ... I know this little guy's a miracle and he's supposed to be here."

Melita and the late Donald Bradley's little miracle was born Jan. 22, 2009, at MTMC.

His name is Samuel Christian Bradley -- and he is a "mini me" of Don, Melita said.

To know him was ...

Looking back, Melita fondly remembers the support she received from MMC and MTMC through out the pregnancy, and delivery of baby Sam.

"It's a great hospital," she said. "That's where Don spent countless hours of his life," delivering babies.

As a mother of two sons, Melita knows that success, as a mother, will come -- if she does just one thing.

"I hope I can raise two boys to be just like him," she said. "For me, that's success."

To know Don, was to love Don, Melita said.

"I had two funerals for him (to accommodate the outpouring of people wanting to pay respect)," she said. "He loved people, had a larger-than-life personality, and touched thousands of lives."

And while Melita believes the family will one day be reunited in Heaven, in the meantime, there's one thing that's certain.

"He's looking down smiling from ear to ear saying, 'those are my boys,'" she said. "There's nothing that would make him happier."

Melita hopes to return to her native place of Shelbyville, to be near family, in the months ahead.