Hours after Crystal Matrau-Belt welcomed her newborn son to the world, she was forced to face the darkest news of her life.
Her mother and fiancé had both been killed on their way to the hospital.
Speaking to Michigan Live, Crystal said she asked her stepdad where her fiancé Emil was after baby Jeremiah arrived via c-section when she learnt the devastating news.
“My dad said, ‘Honey, that’s what we need to talk to you about.’ I just all of a sudden had a sinking feeling something was wrong. I just didn’t know that it was my fiance and my mum,” Crystal said.
It was then that Crystal learnt that the car Emil and her mother Peggy were travelling in hit a tree on their way to the hospital.
Crystal spoke to NBC’s WOOD-TV about her loss. Post continues below.
It was a dramatic day for Crystal who had originally gone to her doctor for a routine check up. Due to health issues, the doctor decided to induce her labour but after her blood pressure dropped and there was a black out, Crystal opted to deliver her son via caesarean.
After making the decision, Crystal contacted her fiancé to let him know their baby boy was on his way.
Crystal had her stepfather by her side for Jeremiah’s birth and it wasn’t until after other family members visited the pair that she realised something wasn’t right.
“Things like this just don’t happen. The last thing I got from Emil was ‘I love you babe and I’ll be up there soon.’ I loved my mum and I loved Emil with all my heart. Once I leave here I don’t really know what to do with myself, my whole life, you know?”
A former school classmate of Crystal’s has since set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money to support Crystal and Jeremiah as they face their first Christmas together.
“A local woman who went to my school has been struggling with infertility and miscarriages for a while until God sent her an angel baby Jeremiah, but at the same time God needed two more angels!,” the page reads.
At the time of writing $8,233 of the $15,000 target has been raised.