Campaign Story

Hi, my name is Taylor, and my partner’s name is Robbie. We’re both 29 and turning 30 this summer. I’ve been a teacher for eight years, with a special place in my heart for my 25 kindergartners at a Title 1 school in Charlotte, NC. My students are truly my world, and my passion for nurturing and educating young minds extends into my personal life, where I long to build a family of my own.

Robbie is a mailman, and together, we’re your average lower-middle-class couple living in a townhome in the city. We share our home with four cats, who we consider our children, and we love animals deeply. We enjoy the simple pleasures of life, and when we first decided to start trying for a family, we were so excited. In fact, we saw a crib on sale and immediately bought it—ready to begin this new chapter. Unfortunately, that crib has been stored away for almost 1.5 years now, still waiting for the baby we’re hoping for.

After trying naturally for two years without success, we reached out to a fertility specialist. Both of our families are incredibly supportive and excited to become grandparents—my two sisters and Robbie’s two sisters, along with both of our parents, are all eagerly awaiting the arrival of a little one. Despite this love and support, the journey has not been easy. After testing, we learned that Robbie’s sperm morphology was at 1%, which presented a challenge. We were advised to change our lifestyle, but we’ve always been healthy – never smoked, rarely drink, and we both stay pretty active. Feeling a bit confused by this advice, I dove into research and started us both on various vitamins and supplements. We continued trying naturally for several more months, but still, no luck.

Eventually, we moved on to IUI. Our last attempt showed some promising signs – two mature follicles on my end, and Robbie’s sperm count post-wash was 14 million. My progesterone level a week later came back at 10.9, which our doctor told me was promising. But, unfortunately, despite all the positive signs, we didn’t get pregnant that month. Another $1,500 down the drain. To make matters worse, our insurance doesn’t cover IUI or IVF, so the financial burden has been significant.

Despite the setback, our fertility specialist reassured us that we’re excellent candidates for IVF. However, we still have the option to try IUI 2-3 more times before moving on to IVF. Given our financial situation, our fertility doctor suggested we look into online scholarships and grants for fertility treatments. We had no idea this was even an option! And so, here we are, exploring every avenue to make our dream of starting a family a reality.

We feel we’ve been incredibly proactive and thoughtful in navigating this process, and our determination to grow our family remains unwavering. It’s been hard when things don’t go as expected, but we continue to stay strong, remain hopeful, and do everything we can to educate ourselves and move forward with optimism. We are doing everything in our power to make this dream come true.