Campaign Story

When I was sixteen (in the mid-90’s) I learned that guys with Cystic Fibrosis have a 98% chance of being infertile. It really didn’t affect me at that time because I didn’t know I wanted to have children, but when I was a sophomore in college, I realized I did want to have children. I took the opportunity to learn about early childhood development and childhood nutrition, believing that I would meet somebody, get married, and have kids. Fast forward 15 years (age 37) I was now in the end stage of cystic fibrosis (lung failure) and still a bachelor. While I was fighting to survive and waiting for a double lung transplant, I didn’t believe that I would ever get married or have children.

Thank God, I successfully made it through my double lung transplant in February 2018. Thank you to my donor, you’ve given me an amazing chance at life again!

Two years after my transplant I met an amazing woman, Lindsey, and fell in love. Now we are married and on our journey to parenthood! Thankfully, because of modern medicine, guys like me (with Cystic Fibrosis) can have biological children by retrieving sperm and doing IVF. Unfortunately, Medicare doesn’t cover IVF treatments and Lindsey’s job that offered IVF coverage was eliminated during COVID, so we must pay for everything out of pocket.

At the end of this month (March 2023) my wife and I will be heading out to Utah from New York to have my sperm retrieval procedure done at a Male Fertility Clinic so we can proceed with IVF! We have been working together pet sitting for the last year and a half to save up for our procedures, appointments, medication, travel, and other unexpected expenses…It all adds up quick! A typical cycle of IVF in NYS is about $24,000! Instead of letting that deter us from our dream of parenthood, we decided fundraise to help make our dream come true!

Thank you for reading our story and supporting our fundraiser. We truly appreciate you!