Campaign Story

My name is Aaron Albanez and my wife’s name is Oksanna Albanez, and we are starting the process of fertility services. Our story dates to when we were teenagers in middle school, where we met in 2005 through one of my dear friends. As we got to know each other, we connected and realized we had many common interests. One of the most significant was that we were both into theatre during our time in middle school. In our junior year of high school in 2010, we reconnected and coincidentally in a theatre class we had together. We officially started dating on October 18th, 2010, for 12 years before getting married in 2022.

Oksanna was born in Russia and adopted by her parents when she was 3 years old along with her “brother” that she refused to leave behind. Though she has felt nothing but love from her adoptive family, she has always been curious about her biological parents and the life they and she had before they gave her up for adoption. Her adoptive parents, and for whatever reason, were not able to have children themselves, and now we embark in attempting to have our own. We have built a solid foundation where we pray, we can parent our child(ren), yet we have faced many obstacles within that path.

In 2015, Oksanna was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer. Although this time in our lives was a bit daunting, our faith reassured us that everything would be fine.

In 2017, I was diagnosed with bilateral testicular cancer. I was told that if both my testicles were not removed, the markers present showed that the cancer would come back. I could not believe how fast the next couple of months unraveled: surgery to remove the left testicle; surgery to remove the right testicle; sperm preservation; foreseeing family planning; oncology appointments; CT scans; ultrasounds; and not to mention restless days and nights.

I am grateful that our stories eventually had a successful conclusion. After years of treatments and follow-ups, both of our cancers are in remission. Our love has grown stronger, especially after getting married and moving in together the next day. Though we know it could be a hard-fought battle, our love has reaffirmed every day that we want to have a child and raise them with the same love and care we both received.

Oksanna and I are overly excited for the next steps towards welcoming a child of our own, and although we are anxious to become parents, we are aware of two things. First, the IVF process is the most viable route for us to have children of our own. We debated and considered a more cost -effective procedure, such as IUI but have been told by our doctors that IVF is best for our situation. Second, the costs for IVF services are high and include appointments and consultations, medications, ultrasounds, embryo preservation, and ongoing support following the IVF procedure. In total, we have been given an estimated cost of approximately $21,300.

Though our journey towards IVF has begun, navigating the world of infertility treatment has surely come with its own difficulties. Oksanna’s OB/GYN had notified her that my sperm samples might not be what the doctor had hoped for, only to be followed via a second opinion by a fertility doctor that the prognosis is positive. When we shared this news with our families, my dad echoed what has been in my head all this time: Everything is according to God’s will.

Our faith has guided us through tough times, and that faith of ours shall carry us into our future and with our immediate family. I know that whatever may come, our child(ren) will grow up knowing that they are loved, they were fought for, and they were always part of God’s perfect plan.

We ask that you consider donating to the cost of the fertility process, and we too are saving aggressively to make one of our first dreams come true. Thank you for helping to make our dream a reality.