Campaign Story

Here is our story: In 2020 Luke was hit with the devastating news that no 21 year old should ever have to hear… Cancer. The cancer was in his back and in his lungs (LCH). He had to leave lineman school to start chemo and radiation. Then finding out that the chemo was going to leave him sterile.. Luke didn’t take no for an answer. His mom called around to just about every sperm bank to get him in before he started chemo. Trying to find one that was going to take him during Covid was tough. With only a couple sperm banks left on the list a spot was open. They drove over right away and were able to get him in. Luke started chemo that Monday. The first round didn’t work. They gave him a week off and were going to start that following Monday. Now this is where I come in.. I met Luke at a family get together. From the moment he walked in I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. My brother in law introduced us and we talked for a while… ending in Luke asking for my number. We chatted back and forth and got to know each other a little bit. He then had to start his second round of chemo that next week. His mom took him to all of his treatments. To everyone’s surprise he asked me if I would take him to one of his chemo treatments.. without hesitation I said yes. The chemo worked but didn’t get all of it. He had to do radiation for the rest hoping to kill it all. After that the doctor calls and wants him to come in. Luke and his mom go into the room with the doctor. Luke’s step dad and I wait eagerly in the waiting room. After what felt like hours Luke and his mom walk out with tears in there eyes.. Luke is finally cancer free. What a relief. The next 2 years after that were wonderful. Luke’s scans come back clear. He went back to lineman school.. graduated. We got engaged then a year later we got married. Now this is where we hit a bump in the road. When Luke gave his sperm he had the cancer in his system.. which depleted his sperm count. So what we thought was going to be a simple IUI turned into us having to do IVF. Since day one we have always talked about us having a family but we didn’t know it was going to be this hard financially.