How Community Support and 'Count the Kicks' Helped Ryan and Emma Kelly After Pregnancy Loss
Key Highlights:
- After losing their daughter Mary Kate in 2021, pro football player and Elevance Health Champion Ryan Kelly and his wife, Emma, turned their grief into a mission to raise awareness about maternal and fetal health.
- The Kellys now advocate for the Count the Kicks program — a stillbirth prevention initiative supported by Elevance Health-affiliated health plans and the Elevance Health Foundation.
- They emphasize the importance of speaking up during pregnancy, encouraging expectant parents to communicate concerns to their healthcare providers.
It's not a community that Ryan and Emma Kelly wanted to join. But it’s one they're grateful they found.
After losing their daughter Mary Kate around 19 weeks into Emma's pregnancy in 2021, the Kellys grappled with shock, grief, and agonizing questions.
“The happiest chapter of your whole life turns into the biggest nightmare you didn’t even know existed,” Emma told Dr. Tiffany Inglis, Carelon Health's chief medical officer for care navigation and whole health. “You have all these feelings, especially as the birthing parent: shame, isolation — just all of these really, really heavy feelings and questions: ‘Did I do this?’ ‘Did I cause this?’”
In December of that year, speculation swirled about why Ryan — a professional football player and an anchor of the Indianapolis Colts’ offensive line — wasn’t available for a game against the New England Patriots. When the Kellys shared their tragic news on social media, what followed was an outpouring of support that helped them move forward.
Other families shared their stories of pregnancy loss, letting the Kellys know they weren’t alone in their experience, or in their grief. It was like being given a life raft, Ryan said.
This is our calling now, helping especially women to not have to go through the experience that we did.”
Pro Football Player and Elevance Health Champion
“We sit here today in a much different space, a much different light than [where] we were after we lost her,” Ryan said. “The people that we’ve met, we feel like have been able to shape how we look at our lives now, how we help other people.”
From Tragedy to Advocacy
Within their pain and through the support they received, the Kellys found a purpose. Ryan, an Elevance Health Champion, and Emma now advocate for maternal and fetal health. They encourage people to use Count the Kicks — a free app that helps expecting parents monitor their baby’s movements, which is particularly important in the third trimester.
In 2024, the Elevance Health Foundation expanded its partnership with the nonprofit Healthy Birth Day, Inc., to support the related Count the Kicks stillbirth prevention program in 10 states. Elevance Health-affiliated health plans also support the program in an additional five states, providing resources to raise awareness and help maternal care providers talk with expecting parents about fetal movement monitoring.
“This is our calling now, helping especially women to not have to go through the experience that we did,” Ryan said.
That calling also involves encouraging women and their partners to raise concerns with their healthcare provider during pregnancy if they feel something might be wrong. Based on their own experiences and what they’ve heard from others, Emma said, people often feel “scared to speak up.”
“Doctors and nurses care and they want to help. … The biggest revelation in all of this is to talk and not to be afraid” to tell your doctor if you’re worried or concerned, Emma said. “I just wish we could start opening up that conversation. Get comfortable. Get confident and just have these conversations. You’re not a burden.”
Today, Ryan is a member of the Minnesota Vikings, and the Kellys have three other children: twin boys who were born prematurely at 27 weeks but are now 2 years old, and a daughter born in 2024.
Mary Kate — and the calling she brought to their lives — is with them as well.
“This is so close to our heart and such a remembrance for our daughter and for all the things that we’ve been through together and to where we are now, it’ll forever be our passion project,” Ryan said.
The Elevance Health Champion campaign is a program within Elevance Health CARES, Inc., a public charity created to complement the work the Elevance Health Foundation does to advance health equity across America. Designed to help increase awareness for critical health challenges and raise funds for local organizations that are making a healthy difference in their communities, the Elevance Health Champion program recognizes professional athletes and organizations who have dedicated themselves to leading healthy lifestyles and actively inspiring others to do the same.