Campaign Story

We appreciate you “stopping by” to view and read our profile:
My name is Ashley and my husband’s name is Brice. We married in April of 2020 and reside in the state of South Carolina with our 2 pups.

I currently work for a non-profit that helps abused children in their journey to healing from trauma. Brice is an estimator for building automation and energy saving commercial HVAC systems. Unfortunately in the state of South Carolina, Fertility coverage is very rare amongst employers and out of pocket costs are an extreme financial burden on couples on top of the mental and emotional stress that comes with infertility. Even if you are blessed enough to have fertility coverage; Most costs associated with IVF are not included in the coverage plan and out of pocket costs are still high. Below is a timeline of our infertility journey this far:

In June of 2020, I started experiencing some health issues and began my medical journey. At first, I thought it was a weight issue and started new eating habits and started to successfully lose weight; but my bloodwork was not showing the benefits of my weight loss. I was referred to several different specialists but could not get answers and was told “just continue to lose weight.” During this time, I had to advocate for myself and requested a new OBGYN for care. After some setbacks, I was finally referred to an Endocrinologist. In January 2021, I was medically diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS for short). PCOS affects 5-10% of women in the U.S. Before this diagnosis, Brice and I had discussed waiting until our 2nd wedding anniversary before we started trying to start a family. Once I received this diagnosis, we agreed to start shortly after our 1 year anniversary. I had a discussion with my new OB and she asked if Brice had any concerns that HE may not be able to produce healthy sperm. Brice had raised some concerns due to him having an illness as a child that could cause low sperm count and even sterilization. Just to ease both of our minds, my OB referred Brice to a local Fertility clinic for a semen analysis. We thought we were checking a box just to be safe. We had hopes that everything would come back normal and we could continue to start our family. In late June 2021, I received the call that Brice’s semen analysis came back “abnormal” (low sperm and motility) and the Dr. wanted to do a retest in 30 days. I was devastated I had to break this news to Brice, I waited until we were both home from work before I discussed the results with him. No amount of pre-marital counseling or life experiences prepares you to have that difficult conversation of possible infertility with your spouse. Brice completed the 2nd analysis exactly 30 days later (early July 2021) and the results were the same. He was then prescribed Clomid and would have a 3rd follow up analysis completed late November. We then scheduled a consultation with our fertility clinic to find out what our options would be to conceive. Fast forward to October 2021, we had our first consultation appt with our current fertility specialist. He seemed very hopeful about our chances and educated us on all possible options and options that could/would be explored. I had to have an ultrasound completed during the consultation and it was discovered that I had a very low follicle count in both ovaries. More devastating news….I sat on the edge of the exam table and just cried. I was not expecting more bad news that day, my hopefulness was honestly rapidly slipping away. Our Dr. decided to schedule me for more lab tests and a Hysterosalpingography (HSG), which would determine if I had any blockages in my fallopian tubes. In November 2021, I had my HSG scheduled along with all the necessary hormone lab work; The HSG came back normal but my hormone lab work was concerning (specifically my AMH levels were extremely low) . November 2021 quickly came around and Brice had his 3rd semen analysis completed; we had hopes that since he had been taking Clomid for 3 months, his numbers would improve and we could move forward with Intrauterine insemination (IUI) before moving on to IVF treatments. We had to wait another 3 weeks for results and in early December 2021, We were presented with more bad news, the Clomid had a reverse affect on Brice and unfortunately, the Clomid diminished his sperm count. We received all test results via email and we knew a call from our Dr. would shortly follow; but it did not make it any easier when our fertility specialist called and gave me the news over the phone. During this call, our Dr. told me that he had reviewed my lab work as well as Brice’s most recent semen analysis and he was sorry to inform me that I had an extremely low egg reserve for someone my age and due to Brice’s sperm count/motility not improving; we were not ideal candidates for IUI and that IVF may/would be our only option to conceive. We received all of this information at the beginning of December; both of our birthdays are in December and of course, Christmas was rapidly approaching. With all this new information and not fully knowing and understanding what this meant for our future, we agreed we just needed to get through our birthday getaway to the mountains and enjoy Christmas with family and friends before we made a final decision on what we planned on doing moving forward.

The past year and a half has been a rollercoaster of emotions for both of us. When you are told you cannot or may not be able to fulfill a dream, you want it even more. We are still very hopeful we will be able to bring a little one home with us one day. It may not be how we planned and we may need a little help from science to fulfill that dream but it will be nothing short of a miracle for us!

We want to thank you for reading this in its entirety, we realize this is a lot of information but we feel it is necessary to share our journey with you all. Sharing this information has not been easy for me, personally, but I am trying to get our story/journey out there since infertility talk is still an uncomfortable discussion. If you find it in your heart to donate to us bringing home an IVF miracle, we would appreciate it far more than words can describe. Even if you cannot contribute financially, your time and sharing our story with others is a tremendous contribution as well. No amount of money, time, and story shares are too little or too great. From the bottom of our hearts, we appreciate your support!

Ashley & Brice