Campaign Story

We first met back in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic.  Almost immediately we knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our life together.  We discussed children almost immediately and started trying to build our family. Unfortunately, 4 years later and we are no closer to holding a baby in our arms.

Being that I’m disabled and have a history of pregnancy loss we knew the journey to parenthood wouldn’t be easy but I never could have imagined the heartbreak that was to come.  After various doctors, clinics, testing, trauma, loss and gaslighting we finally got the answer as to why we were struggling to conceive.  After being dismissed, gaslit, and discriminated against by various medical professionals I finally found a provider who listened and truly wanted to help.  We proceeded with low risk medications and were doing a trigger shot and monthly follicle checks, but still nothing was working.  During a follicle check one month they finally saw something, my doctor said I had hydrosalpinx of my fallopian tube, and she wanted to schedule surgery for removal, this was after she initially didn’t want to do exploratory surgery to check for endometriosis although she did think it was likely.  When she saw this she changed her mind and wanted to proceed with the surgery.  Ultimately we got a second opinion just to be sure given my complex medical history and that provider also agreed so we went forward and scheduled surgery in January 2023.  After surgery we finally had the answers, I was diagnosed with endometriosis, severe chronic pelvic inflammatory disease, and bilateral tube blockage due to the severity of the scarring and adhesions.  In the end the doctor ended up leaving both tubes as the left tube he was supposed to remove was the better of the two tubes and he didn’t want to take it out and leave the worse one in place.  So because there wasn’t prior consent to remove the right tube he ended up leaving both.  We were heartbroken and absolutely devastated with the news.

Our only hope of having the family I’ve always dreamed of is IVF.  Unfortunately the cost just isn’t accessible for most people.  But it is especially inaccessible and financially out of reach for a disabled person like me.

.The most frustrating part in all of this is that if providers had listened instead of medically gaslighting me and telling me I didn’t have endometriosis for over 16 years, when in fact I did, we could have intervened before adhesions and scarring got this bad.  If providers had been more thorough and took things seriously I truly believe I wouldn’t be in this situation today.  I share my story so that maybe just maybe I can help others on their journey.

If you have made it this far, I just want to say from the bottom of my heart thank you for listening to my story.  Thank you to anyone who supports us not only financially but in whatever way they are able.  It is more than appreciated!