Beverly couple brewing hope, consolation from loss

BEVERLY, Mass. — Even when a story has a happy ending, we often can't forget the painful beginning.

Matthew Smith and Abby Hillinger welcomed baby Willow into the world in January. They learned Abby was pregnant with Willow on the anniversary of learning their first baby, Melody, was stillborn.

"I could see her take a deep breath and she turned around and said, 'I'm sorry, your baby has passed.' And I," Hillinger said as she trailed off while describing the experience.

"We just went into pure shock," Smith finished.

That was in May 2017.

"We didn’t know if our baby died...we didn’t know that I’d have to give birth to her," Hillinger said.

They had a baby shower, unpacked gifts, set up a nursery. Suddenly, they were planning a funeral.

"We had been planning to have a baby for such a long time and suddenly our worlds were just completely shattered," Smith said.

The months that followed were the hardest of their lives.

"You think that when you go through a tragic event that that’s the darkest thing. But, a lot of time, it’s the period after when your brain is trying to process what just happened," said Smith.

There was therapy, support groups and time to heal. Then, Smith found a new mission.

A hobby brewer, he launched his own beer company called Wandering Soul. In his beer shed, he perfected a recipe dedicated to his late daughter, Melody Maker.

"That was what I focused on to keep me grounded," he said.

Smith started selling it, along with another -- Things You Don't Say -- this year.

The Beverly couple says it's cracking open so much more than beer cans.

"The people I heard from -- emails, messages -- people I would meet at events who had gone through stillbirth, who had gone through pregnancy loss, who had gone through IVF, gone through miscarriage, had some really good conversations and I met new friends," Smith said. “There are people who are out there that can relate and they want to help. And, you can’t get through it alone.”

Sales of the beer profit Resolve New England.

Cox Media Group