DUCK RIVER, Tenn. (WTVF) -- Growing up, Ashley Totty always envisioned one day celebrating Christmas with children of her own.
She also never thought she would become a high school Spanish teacher. That changed when she was a young teacher in Hickman County. She remembers what she saw in her students.
"I knew that she wanted to do something with her life that was meaningful," Totty said about her student, Hannah Dearman.
Dearman was a junior when Totty was in her first year of teaching.
"All of the students could go to her (Totty) if they needed to," Dearman said. "That's something that stuck out to me. It was easy to talk to her. If you need help, you could go to her."
"She sat front row. I can still see her now - she wore jeans and flip-flops almost every day," Totty said.
From how Dearman described it, Totty was that "cool" teacher. She was close enough in age where she could relate but most importantly, the students could trust her.
The two stayed close even after graduation. They became Facebook friends and kept tabs on each other's lives.
That includes when Dearman was expecting her first child.
"I found out of the gender for my son and we were going to have a gender reveal so I wanted to tell somebody before I told all of them because I was going to explode," Dearman said. "So I remember messaging her and telling her it was a boy."
The two followed each other's journeys to motherhood.
"I remember commenting on a post and I was like 'you are a fantastic mother and I hope to be as good of a mom as you one day," Totty said.
Dearman has three children, all under the age of 10 years old.
"I asked her (Totty) how her journey to motherhood was going and they were trying," said Dearman. "And so I knew they were trying at that point and that was seven years ago."
"You know you're kind of sold a story, even if it's unwritten, that you get married and you have kids," Totty said. "And it's easy. And it wasn't easy for us. We were able to conceive many, many times. And then a few months after seeing a heartbeat, the pregnancy would not make it."
Ashley and her husband, Spencer, lost seven babies.
"I felt sad," Dearman said. "My kids are my life."
"Our IVF transfer failed," Totty said. "After all the surgeries, the shots."
Silent struggles left little hope. They thought their dream of one day hanging their baby's first Christmas ornament was nothing but a distant wish.
On July 29, 2024, Ashley and Spencer welcomed baby Sophie Leigh Totty via a surrogate.
That surrogate was Ashley Totty's former student -- Hannah Dearman.
"We just always felt it was going to work out," Spencer Totty said. "We didn't know how. Or we didn't know when."
"We chose to honor Hannah by giving Sophie Hannah's middle name, spelled Leigh," Totty said.
"After I had Callie, I just had this really, really strong feeling that God led me to," Dearman said.
"That was - I mean that was the whole goal," she added. "But that was my favorite part was actually giving Sophie to them."
"She's baby number eight for us," Totty said. "Hannah is our angel for helping us get Sophie here." "I see life. I see hope. I see love."
"Being persistent and showing other people the reason to stay hopeful is most likely, or what I believe, the reason why we've had the journey that we've had," Spencer Totty said. "Never give up."
Ashley and Spencer are grateful to the Tennessee Fertility Institute for helping make their dreams and miracles come true.
If you have more information about this story, please email me at [email protected].
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Middle Tennessee nurses collect donations for Hurricane Helene victims
Another example of how one person can truly make a difference. And the best part - we all can help! As a nurse, Laura handles emergencies every day. But nothing could prepare her for the emergency that brought her hometown to its knees. From her current home in Tennessee, she's mobilizing aid and supplies for Helene survivors and is helping make their recovery easier and their holidays brighter. I hope you take a moment to watch her story - you might even feel inspired to lend a helping hand.
-Rebecca Schleicher