Devoted Husband, Father, and Firefighter
Marc Hadden had dedicated his professional life to saving lives as a firefighter in Myrtle Beach, North Carolina. Every day brought with it new challenges, but there was little that could stand in Hadden’s way to fulfil his duties as a civil servant.
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Emergency Call
When Hadden wasn’t taking emergency calls, he was a devoted husband to his wife Beth and a hands-on father to his two sons, Will and Parker. On November 14, 2011, on a seemingly normal day, Hadden would receive a cal that would soon change everything.
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Just Another Day
That fateful day was just like any other. It was a slow morning, Hadden and the other firefighters thought it would turn out to be an uneventful day, but just as they were sitting down to lunch, the fire station’s emergency line rang.
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Very Quickly Realized Disaster Struck
“It was just a somewhat normal call,” Hadden later told WMBF News. “Very quickly we realized that it was going to be a life changer for us,” he went on to say. It was indeed a thrilling emergency, but Hadden had no idea that this particular call was going to be especially life-changing for him and his family.
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Call of Duty
The woman on the telephone line complained of severe pain in her lower abdomen. With no time to waste, Hadden and his fellow firefighters quickly made their way to the scene, to see what help that could offer the desperate woman.
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No Time to Waste
When Hadden arrived at the woman’s location, it all become clear. The women was well into her pregnancy. The pain she was feeling was actually labor pain and intermittent contractions: She was about to give birth.
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Time Slipping Away Fast
Time was getting the best of them. Hadden and his fellow firefighters believed that the young woman was just minutes away from going into labor. They knew they had to act fast in order to ensure both the woman and her baby was safe. The ideal solution would have been to rush her to the nearest hospital, but Hadden worried that wouldn’t make it to the hospital in time.
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Think Quick
“It was a pretty serious call for us,” Hadden told People magazine. He recalled the stressful incident exclaiming, “We got her on some oxygen, started some IVs and literally as we were getting ready to leave the parking lot in the ambulance, my partner said, ‘We’re about to deliver a baby right here.’”
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The Moment of Truth
Hadden and his crew had to do something soon to ensure they would save the woman and her baby. They had to deliver the baby before any serious complications ensued. A normal day at the “office” soon transformed into a harrowing struggle to save two lives.
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Pivotal Moment
He might have had much experience rescuing people from burning buildings, but Hadden had never delivered a baby. Ultimately, the brave civil servant soon proved he was in the right place at the right time. He didn’t know it yet, but this emergency delivery would change his life forever.
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It’s a Girl
Luckily, the delivery went smoothly. Hadden went from caring for one struggling patient to two. The baby girl was born and immediately handed to the firefighter. “She struggled from the minute she was put in my hands,” Hadden told People.
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What Now?
Just mere hours after delivering the little girl, the mother and her child were at the hospital receiving proper medical attention. The woman soon she expressed her concern to the doctors. She was already a single mother struggling to raise her teenage son alone, how would she handle raising another child?
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Not Ready For Her
The frantic mother soon made it clear she wasn’t capable of raising her newborn baby. In floods of tears, the woman soon stated she wanted to put her little girl up for adoption. When Hadden heard the doctors talking about this new development, he felt his heart break for the infant.
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Fatherly Instincts
Already a loving father of two, Hadden couldn’t imagine this child having to go through the adoption system. Like all children, she was deserving of a stable and caring home. He jokingly told the on-call doctors that he would be her father.
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A Lightbulb Went Off
Hadden knew he had to do something, he decided to call Beth. By the grace of God, this incident actually seemed like the work of fate. The Haddens desperately wanted another child and had been trying to conceive for quite some time.
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“Can We Keep Her?”
Beth clearly remembers the moment her husband called her. “He called me and he was ecstatic. I mean, he delivered a baby and who in the world gets to deliver a baby in their lifetime that’s not a doctor,” she told ABC News. After Beth heard her husband’s story, she jokingly replied, “Can we keep her?” That’s when Hadden told his wife that the baby girl was actually being put up for adoption. When Beth heard the news she felt compelled to visit the woman and the baby at the hospital the following day.
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Unexpected Timing
The Haddens had dreamed of welcoming a little girl into their family for years. “Ever since we had the boys, we knew that we wanted more children, but I was preterm with them so we knew that it wasn’t possible to have any more babies,” Beth lamented to People magazine.
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A Special Visit
“I will never forget that day. It was a day when a lot of things came full circle,” Hadden told CNN. Everything seemed like it was meant to be, but would the couple actually go through with the adoption? The next day, Beth went to visit the woman and her baby at the hospital with a bible in hand. “My heart just went out to this woman,” she said.
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A Heart to Heart
Just as the doctor told the woman that adoption proceedings could soon begin, she was soon overcome with desperate emotion. She finally realized what this would mean for her daughter, that her child would be raised by strangers. She was distraught.
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Love at First Sight
“I want you to adopt my baby. I can’t give my baby to someone I’ve never met,” the woman cried. The desperate mother asked the nurse to bring in her baby for Beth to meet. As soon as Beth held the baby girl in her arms, she called her husband and tearfully proclaimed, “I think we just had a baby!” The opportunity they had been praying for was finally within arm’s reach.
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Rebecca Grace Hadden
The Haddens soon signed temporary custody papers and were permitted to bring their bundle of joy home. They named the little girl Rebecca Grace, but she now goes by her middle name and is fondly known by her family as Gracie.
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A True Blessing
When Hadden delivered this precious baby, he had absolutely no idea that just two days later she’d be in his arms as his adopted daughter. A year later Beth and Marc would gain full legal custody of their beloved daughter, Gracie.
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Paying It Forward
“It felt like winning the lottery.” Hadden told CNN. “To see my wife’s face light up when we brought Gracie home. I can’t even begin to tell you.” It turns out, Gracie not only had a profound impact on the Hadden family, but on the local community.
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The Butterfly Effect
The family’s heartfelt story moved the local community to action. The entire neighborhood raised funds to help the Haddens care for their beautiful new family addition. Hadden’s personal contractor even paid to have an extension added to their home for the new baby.
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Father of the Year
Following Gracie’s birth, the Myrtle Beach Fire Department also awarded Hadden a Firefighter of the Year accolade for his courage at the scene of his future-daughter’s delivery. The station honored Hadden for his incredible work and his compassionate decision to give Gracie a much-deserved home.
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Broaching the Subject
Beth and Marc have never hidden the truth from their daughter. “We told her pretty much from day one. I’ve taken her to the back of the ambulance where she was born, so she knows – no doubt about it,” Marc told ABC News. Marc said that she’s still too young to fully understand the gravity of her adoption story, but he and Beth will handle that conversation when Gracie is old enough.
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Gracie’s Take on Things
At just six years old, Gracie often shares the story of her unusual birth and entrance into the world. When asked about her birth, she often says: “My daddy delivered me in the back of an ambulance and helped me take my first breath.”
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A Daddy’s Girl
Gracie and Marc understandably share an unbreakable bond. Admittedly, she’s definitely daddy’s girl. “She is my best friend. We share an amazing bond.” Marc soon made a tough decision that would once again deeply affect his family life.
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A Full Time Dad
Hadden soon chose to retire from firefighting and decided to work solely on a volunteer basis. Despite his retirement, Hadden claims his days are even fuller now that Gracie is in his life. “Every day I look forward to waking her up, getting her ready for school, then picking her up later on,” a proud Hadden told CNN.
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Sibling Love
Will and Parker fell in love with Gracie from their very first introduction. Will, now 15 and Parker, 13, have effortlessly taken on the roles of Gracie’s protective older brothers, which will definitely come in handy when she gets even older.
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Like Mother, Like Daughter
Beth finally has the daughter she has always longed for. The two love doing girly things together. Whether it’s watching Gracie practice gymnastics or painting their nails together, she feels truly blessed to have become Gracie’s loving mom.
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A Message to the World
Adoption isn’t always easy an easy option for many families, but the Haddens know they made the right decision. Beth, Marc and their boys have welcomed their family addition with open arms. Gracie is the daughter and sister they have always wanted.
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Coming Full Circle
People often praise the Hadden’s for taking on Gracie, for their loving work as parents and Marc’s exceptional work as a fireman. But the Haddens have a different take on the matter, saying: “We didn’t save her, she saved us!”