Campaign Story

Our names are Olivia and Madison Bochel, we’ve been together for three years and recently got married in November 2022. We’ve always wanted to have a family, and while IUI (artificial insemination) is about 1/10 of the cost of IVF it really isn’t an option for us because Madison has BRCA type 1 (which she got diagnosed with at 19). A woman with BRCA type 1 has a 50-65% chance of developing breast cancer before the age of 70, whereas someone without the gene has a 7% chance, as well a 35-75% chance of developing ovarian cancer before 70, whereas someone without the gene has less than a 2% chance. Having this mutation means that there is a 50/50 chance that our child could inherit the same gene without using genetic testing with IVF. Just this year alone Madison has started seeing a gynecologist oncologist and breast specialist that she will have to see and get testing done quarterly every year because of this gene. Its very taxing going to multiple doctors appointments and getting testing done, the only real solution to decrease this cancer risk is to undergo a total mastectomy and hysterectomy (which they recommend doing before the age of 30). We would feel horrible knowing we passed this burden on to our future children. I’m sure you’re thinking right now, okay but there’s plenty of couples that don’t undergo IVF and play the odds and they have great life. Along with having the BRCA gene Madison found out that she has endometriosis, which is a condition in which cells similar to the ones that line the uterus grow outside of the uterus which can cause extremely painful periods and lead to infertility if untreated. Madison’s fallopian tubes are both scarred over due to endometriosis and our fertility specialist gave her a less than 1% chance of conceiving without the use of IVF.

For the past year we’ve been too prideful to ask for help but time is not on our side and at this point we are trying to exhaust every resource that we possibly can. We appreciate you reading our story and are thankful for any donation/prayers.

– Olivia and Madison Bochel