Great Smoky Mountains National Park is often a place of remembrance. Its beauty and peace can provide soothing comfort and quietude. It is with deep sympathy that we share this letter from Joe and Kelli Ryall.
Since as long as I can remember I have had the blessing of experiencing all of the beauty and excitement that the Great Smoky Mountains have to offer.
As a child, I have fond memories of playing with my toy tractors in the clay cutouts outside my grandmother’s cabin. As a boy, I remember the many hiking and fishing trips taken with my father and brother. Now as an adult, I have taken many more trips with friends and family through the trails that seem to go on forever. And now as a husband I have the pleasure to enjoy this beautiful land with my wife.
When I first met my wife, Kelli, three years ago, our first trip together was to Bryson City, N.C., to visit my grandmother. Since then we make the trip up from Florida at least once a year to enjoy the beauty that surrounds these magnificent mountains.
In December 2012, right before Christmas, we found out that Kelli was pregnant with our first child. We both were very excited but we waited the traditional twelve weeks before surprising our families and close friends with the news. At that stage in the pregnancy we were confident that we would be having a healthy baby sometime towards the end of September.
In April our dreams were shattered. Our healthy baby was diagnosed with Trisomy 18 — a rare chromosome disorder in which nearly all fetuses do not survive and those born almost all do not live past two years of age. Our case was one of a handful that the doctors in our city had ever experienced.
We were told that it was extremely rare for a baby with Trisomy 18 to survive past the first few weeks after conception but little Nathaniel did. Unfortunately, we were told his odds of even being born were less than 1 percent and that he would eventually pass away inside the womb and have to be removed.
This news was devastating to my wife and me. By this time my wife was beginning to show that she was pregnant and the doctors told her that at any day now she would begin to feel him kick and move around.
By a merciful blessing from God we did not have to wait very long. A week after we were given the prognosis little Nathaniel passed away. But this was not the end of our awful ordeal. At nineteen weeks of pregnancy, our baby boy was too large and too far developed for Kelli’s body to pass naturally so she was admitted to the hospital and given pills to induce labor. What should have been a one to three hour procedure turned out to be a twenty hour grueling delivery for Kelli.
On April 26, 2013, Nathaniel Hardy Ryall was born. Although he had already passed away we still acknowledge this day as his birthday. Kelli and I were able to hold our tiny baby and say our hellos and goodbyes.
The next few weeks are just a blur. My wife and I were just physically and emotional exhausted. Kelli is a school teacher, and somehow she managed to finish the school year. We have the greatest family and friends in the world. Their love and support was and still is a blessing but after what we had been through we just wanted to get away and share some time together; just the two of us. And I knew of no greater place to go for peace and tranquility than the Great Smoky Mountains!
We left the morning after Kelli was done teaching for the summer. I couldn’t wait to get up there.
It was an amazing experience. I have visited the Smokies dozens of times, but this time was special. It was the first time we had gotten a good night’s sleep in weeks.
I don’t recall a day in which we woke up before 10:00 a.m. the whole time we were up there. I cannot describe the feeling of being on top of Clingman’s Dome or on the cliffs atop Mt. LeConte and looking down through the clouds back at Earth.
For me, the Smokies are as close to Heaven as we can get here on Earth. Being 6,500 feet in the air just makes me feel so close to God and Nathaniel.
Kelli and I would like to make a special donation in the memory of Nathaniel Hardy Ryall to the Friends of the Smokies organization as our way of saying thank you.
Thank you for all those who give their money, time and talents to keep the Great Smoky Mountains our beautiful oasis. A place where we can come for adventure, rest and relaxation and now a place where I can come to remember our little one; who never had the opportunity to enjoy a hike or fishing trip with his father like the ones I remember as a boy.
God Bless,
Joe and Kelli Ryall
Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization has been helping to preserve and protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park by raising funds and awareness and recruiting volunteers for needed projects. Over the last 21 years, support from Friends of the Smokies members, sponsors, donors, and Tennessee and North Carolina specialty license plate owners has totaled more than $43 million. To see this year’s list of Park Support Projects visit our website at FriendsOfTheSmokies.org