When nursing student Tessa Truman experienced an ectopic pregnancy, she knew what to expect — but she couldn't predict the support that was filmed by her doorbell camera.
On January 4, Truman, who was in her first trimester of pregnancy, was getting ready to take her stepson, then 7, to school when she felt her heart race.
"I felt nauseous so I went to the bathroom and my vision went out," Truman, 27, of Henderson, Nevada, tells TODAY.com. "All I saw was black."
Truman called out to her fiancé Brandon Newton, who had just walked in the door after working the night shift at his construction job.
"He caught me as I went unconscious for about 20 seconds," she recalls, adding that Newton called 911 and paramedics arrived within minutes.
Truman says she was carrying an ectopic pregnancy, which is a non-viable and sometimes life-threatening pregnancy that attaches outside the uterus.
"The fetus implanted ... and was growing in my (fallopian) tube," she added. "It grew so big that it ended up rupturing, leading to internal bleeding."
Truman lost her right fallopian tube, which shouldn't impact her chances of having more children, she says.
In a different TikTok video Truman shared what her doctor said.
"If I hadn't had surgery when I had it, there's a good chance that I wouldn't have made it because of how much blood I was losing. It was a lot to process, and it still is a lot to process ... and I also had to process losing my baby at the same time."
Then Truman checked her doorbell footage and was moved by what she saw: approximately 20 friends, family, school classmates and acquaintances entering her home carrying flowers, meals, balloons and household supplies.
Others sent gift cards for Uber Eats, Instacart and Costco and made Venmo donations. Truman's mom is helping care for her stepson and 14-month-old son, whom she can’t lift on doctor’s orders.
Truman posted the footage on TikTok, writing. "Watch my village show up after an emergency surgery for a ruptured ectopic pregnancy." The video has more than 14 million views.
Aside from having enough food to last three weeks, Truman says she received hundreds of messages from people who survived ectopic pregnancies and went on to have children.
"That was one of my biggest worries," she says.
Truman says many, including herself, were surprised by the amount of people who came to her aid.
"I feel extremely lucky.," she said, noting that a lot of TikTok comments have said things like, "The same thing happened to me but I didn't have anyone and that's so beautiful that you had those people." Adds Truman, "It makes me sad because I wish that everyone had a community like that."
Truman wants to be just as present for anyone else.
"I want to be a better person by reaching out to people who are struggling," she says. "Truly, it makes all the difference to have people who care and love you."