Campaign Story

My name is Danielle and I am a 37 year old with Cystic Fibrosis. I was given a second chance at life when I received a double lung transplant at 31 years old and I will forever be indebted to my donor. My husband John was and is my biggest support through everything over the last 12 years.

For the first time in a long time, after transplant we started to have high hopes that we could build our family together. Two years after transplant we were given clearance to begin trying.. and to our surprise I was able to get pregnant only 3 months after. We were thrilled. But unfortunately right before the second trimester, I miscarried. It was devastating but we were determined to try again with high risk doctors at a new clinic. We continued under medical supervision, with various tests and even began IUI cycles over the next 2 years (which were not covered by insurance so everything was paid out of pocket). Each success with pregnancy, shortly followed by losses. I am no stranger to obstacles and have always tried to see the positive side of life, but it was and still is very hard to reflect on.. Following the last pregnancy in late 2022, my transplant medication levels were found to be below therapeutic dose -likely related to pregnancy hormones and the following month I landed in acute cellular rejection. This was disheartening and alarming.  This lead us and my medical team to the conclusion that it would no longer be safe for me to attempt to carry a child. It was a hard blow to receive but we took the news in stride.

We began starting to look at other options.  We have recently enlisted with a new fertility team and are now beginning a very new and expensive journey of harvesting eggs, making embryos and searching for a gestational surrogate through an agency. We have all the love in the world to give to our prospective future child. MUCH more LOVE than funds, which is why unfortunately we are asking for ANY financial help with this process. This isn’t an easy ask for us, and many loved ones have already helped us get through transplant, and we are so very grateful. Unfortunately, many infertility treatments and surrogacy is not covered by so many insurances still. I am actively applying to grants but there just isn’t enough tailored to unique situations like ours or enough at all yet.  Our goal is to have help with the first 30,000 (which is the agency fee to work with and find a surrogate).  Any financial help will go a long way in our journey to completing the family we’ve dreamed of! We are not giving up!!