Campaign Story

Hello! We are Elley and Joshua Marshall, a couple deeply in love with each other and with the dream of becoming parents. For as long as we can remember, we’ve always wanted to grow our family by having a child of our own. But the path to parenthood hasn’t been easy for us. We truly appreciate you taking the time to read our story and hope it is an impactful representation of us as worthy candidates.

A Little About Us
Elley is a dedicated elementary school teacher who pours her heart and soul into her students every day. She has taught both reading and art to children of all ages, and enjoys coaching high schoolers each spring for the discus event in track and field. She loves helping her students reach their full potential, watching them grow and succeed. She goes the extra mile in her art room, ensuring that her projects are fun and engaging using exciting supplies such as paint and clay fired in a kiln. As a prior reading teacher, Elley matches art projects to the school’s reading curriculum as well as collaborates with the school’s reading teachers. She often stays late at school creating materials such as mugs out of buckets and a large paper dragon for the school musical. Elley is also an aunt to an adorable 2 year old niece. She spoils her with attention and reads books to her every chance she gets. Although teaching and loving other people’s children has been extremely fulfilling, she is hoping to become a mother so she can have her own kiddo to love, support, and share her love of art, athletics, music, and children’s books with someday.

Joshua has spent most of his career as a manager in food manufacturing. His employees have described him as friendly and a “people person.” His employees know they can count on Josh to be a problem solver in the workplace, but also someone who cares for the employees as people and friends. He has volunteered his time at work events such as a Halloween Family Fun Day and has called colleagues on his days off to check on their well-being. Josh loves to spend time with his two nephews, ages ten and six, serving as the “fun” uncle who allows them to embrace their silly senses of humor. Last year, their Christmas gift was a “Yes Day” in Virginia Beach where we took them to do any fun activities they wanted with Aunt Elley and “Uncle Poo” such as a ropes course, mini golf, and playing games at the arcade.

Both of us share the common goal of growing our current family. We are already lucky enough to be “fur” parents to three dogs, Finn, Eddie, and Maggie. We treat our pets as children, allowing them to sleep in our bed and travel with us almost everywhere–including road trips to get chicken nuggets while listening to Eddie’s favorite rap songs. We even created a keepsake Christmas tree ornament after Finn required surgery when he ate six ornaments right off of the tree! All of our dogs love children, and they are very gentle and sweet to our niece and nephews. We hope they will someday have a two-legged sibling of their own to love on.

We are both also very devoted to our families. Elley’s mother passed away when she was just four years old and her father remarried a caring woman named Jackie who raised Elley as her own. Elley and Jackie’s loving relationship has shown Elley that motherhood is not just about genetics, it’s about the bond between a parent and child. As a result of Jackie and her father’s love, Elley had a wonderful childhood full of fun vacations, sporting events, and holiday traditions. One special memory Elley has is going to her grandparents’ each year to have an Easter egg hunt put on by her grandmother. It would mean the world to her to be able to do this someday with her own child and her child’s cousins. Josh’s family shares a deep love of the Chesapeake Bay and all things beach and fishing. Josh has many memories of boating with his parents and helping his dad clean the boat afterwards. These early experiences on the water taught Josh to have a strong work ethic and led to him becoming a Merchant Mariner for eight years. Josh hopes to someday be able to share his knowledge of boating as well as special traditions on the water with his own child.

Our Fertility Journey
This emphasis of family is what led us to want to start a family of our own. Unfortunately, after trying for over two years to conceive, in fall of 2022, we learned we were facing the challenges of Elley having low Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH), indicating an extremely low egg reserve, as well as Josh having low sperm count. Our hearts broke as we realized that our dream of having a child might not come as easily as we had hoped. After a series of tests and doctor’s visits, we were advised by our wonderful doctor, Dr. Edelstein at Shady Grove in Richmond, Virginia, to pursue IVF. The thought of IVF was both overwhelming and hopeful. We knew that this journey could bring us the child we’ve always dreamed of, but the emotional and financial burden of IVF treatment was significant.

Initially we went through the process using a combination of whatever was covered by insurance and as well as a credit card. In June of 2023 we transferred our only healthy embryo, genetically tested to be a girl. Unfortunately, in July we were devastated to find out we miscarried just before our first sonogram was to be scheduled. Needless to say, it was the worst day of our lives. Not ready to give up, we decided to try a second round of IVF. This time, we created three embryos, but yet again we were disheartened to find that none of the embryos were genetically viable to move forward. For our third attempt, we again successfully made one healthy embryo. This embryo was transferred in January 2024, but it did not successfully transfer. After many, many tears and long discussions, we decided to take a break from trying to start our family to recover mentally, physically, and financially.

Why We Need Your Help
Now that we are ready to continue this journey to parenthood, we were advised that an egg donor would be our best option. Unfortunately, the egg donor process is not covered by our current insurance plan. The costs of doctor visits, medications, lab work, and past procedures themselves have been a heavy weight on our shoulders. The total cost for more cycles, this time using an egg donor, is more than we can manage on our own.

We will now be continuing our journey through use of the egg donor program at our clinic, Shady Grove Fertility in Richmond, Virginia. We have truly enjoyed working with Dr. Edelstein and Dr. Graham along with the amazing team at Shady Grove. Dr. Edelstein went above and beyond when we were going through IVF. We recall one time where we did not have the required medication in time, but Dr. E without hesitation met us after hours at the clinic to assist. The team has been wonderful with providing information and responding to any questions in a timely manner. We know that infertility is something that we can conquer through love and a little help from science. With the assistance from you through The Gift of Parenthood and Shady Grove Richmond, we can now have hope for a family and an exciting future.

Thank You from the Bottom of Our Hearts
We know that with your help, we’ll be one step closer to our dream of becoming parents. Every donation, no matter how small, will bring us one step closer to this dream. Thank you for joining us on this journey—your kindness and support mean the world.

With love and gratitude,
Elley and Josh, VA