A couple who lost their toddler son, unborn baby and the ability to conceive naturally after sustaining terrible burns in a horrific wildfire have welcomed a daughter almost four years on from the tragedy.
Jamie and Jacob Hyland were caught in the Cold Spring wildfire in Okanogan County, Washington in 2020.
They were left seriously injured and their one-year-old son Uriel was killed as they attempted to flee the ferocious flames.
Their grief was further compounded when Jamie, who was pregnant, was told that their unborn child had died. Worse was to come when she learned that the severity of her own burns coupled with a subsequent infection meant she could no longer conceive naturally.
‘Watching the life go away from my child’s eyes, it’s just not right,’ Jacob Hyland told King5 through tears. ‘My son was everything.’
‘I’m not just a woman hoping to be a mom some day, I am woman who has experienced motherhood and then had it taken away,’ Jamie added.
But recently, their misery has been tempered by the arrival of miracle baby Shiloh, who was born via surrogate.
‘There’s something about a child’s laughter that just is healing,’ the proud dad added. ‘Before, I didn’t really know why we were living. I had no clear direction. Having her around does bring a lot more joy.’
Shiloh’s birth was the result of four attempts at surrogacy, with each failed pregnancy plunging the couple back into the grieving process.
‘Every time it failed, it was just like, my cup was already really, really, empty,’ Jacob said. ‘[It] just felt like it had even more holes in it.’
Shiloh was successfully implanted on her late brother’s birthday and born in August 2023.
‘When she was born, she went on to my chest and latched and starting nursing,’ Jamie said. ‘And I called Jacob and I was like, “She’s here!” Just so happy.’
The Hylands were evacuating their property in a remote stretch of Okanogan at around midnight on September 10 when they got trapped by the fire that began raging hours before.
The couple were unable to reach family members or the emergency services because power lines were down.
After hours of no contact, Jacob’s cousin Jim Mabry decided to head down to the Hyland’s remote property on Tuesday.
By this time, the wildfire had turned surrounding pastures of four-foot-high sage into complete ash.
Mabry soon discovered Jacob’s truck in a ravine around a quarter of a mile away from their home.
The vehicle, which had burst through a barbed wire fence, was severely charred. Its windshield had melted, and the steering wheel and dashboard were completely destroyed.
Incredibly the couple did manage to escape the pick-up truck with their son.
They headed towards the Columbia River where they were miraculously found by rescuers along a bank, although Uriel had sadly died.
Jamie was left with burns across 50 percent of her body, while Jacob had 25 percent burns and a collapsed lung.
Their physical recovery has taken several years, while they describe their emotional one as a work in progress.
‘There is the pain of missing our son that pan is always there until heaven, but there is the pain of being a parent without a child,’ Jamie said.
Now the couple are fundraising for another attempt at surrogacy using their last remaining embryo.
‘For now we’re just focusing on delighting in Shiloh, raising funds for our next baby, and figuring out our steps in life in general,’ they wrote on a GoFundMe.
‘But hopefully things come together for our next baby in 2025.’
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
