Campaign Story

My husband Blair and I met five years ago. From the start, we knew we were made for each other and had found the one we were going to spend the rest of our life with. Nine months later we were moving in together and a few months after that we were engaged! From the moment we met, everything about our relationship seemed so easy! Meeting each other’s family and friends only made our love for each other even more beautiful.

As a couple, we love to spend our free time together outdoors hiking and go to Sedona any chance we get! We are both very health conscious and exercise regularly; it’s a huge part of who we are and being healthy brings us joy. We love to cook together and watch movies that make us laugh. We love to travel, though opportunities are rare. Blair and I have been through a lot together, but we have always found joy in the little things. We believe in living in the moment and not dwelling on the small things. We believe that staying positive, grounding ourselves and surrounding ourselves with wonderful people is so important. We love our life together.

Blair is a strong, courageous, incredible man that will be an amazing father. I have wanted to be a mother for so long, I can’t imagine not having a baby. We have wonderful loving families, amazing supportive friends, fulfilling careers, a beautiful relationship, and a happy home. The only thing we feel we are missing is a baby.

My husband has been an EMT for almost seven years and is so wonderful. He is out there saving lives and making a difference. I am so proud of him.
I have been a nanny for almost ten years and I absolutely love what I do. I love to teach and help love and raise little ones into wonderful people.

We always imagined we would get married and try to get pregnant soon after that. We both have wanted to be parents for a long time and once we found each other, we couldn’t wait to make that happen.

Our idea of how we thought our life would go changed very quickly. A month after living together, I was taking Blair to the ER to soon find out he was in end-stage renal failure. Blair’s medical history starts at the early age of twelve. He was diagnosed with IGA Nephropathy-induced renal failure. Dialysis treatments shortly thereafter, and Blair received his first kidney transplant from his mother at the age of 17. Five years later he required a second transplant, which came from his father. At 28, he required a third transplant, given to him by his brother; however, during this time Blair’s disease almost cost him his life as his brother had to petition the Coast Guard to allow the donation.

After 11 good years, during which Blair dedicated himself to helping others as an EMT, he decided he was ready to find the love of his life. That’s when we met and fell in love. Blair has constantly put his dreams on hold his whole life; it was painful to see him have to go through that once again. He was put on dialysis three times a week, four hours each session. He continued to do the impossible and worked full time as an EMT.

Due to all of his transplants and his rare blood type, Mayo Clinic told us we would have a hard time finding him a match. I, as well as the rest of his family and mine, tried to donate but were not a match. His sister was accepted into Mayo Clinic’s paired exchange program and donated to someone else, so that Blair could get a match. By a miracle, a match was found a year and a half later. He was scheduled to receive his fourth kidney transplant. It has been three years and he is feeling great and healthy! We are so thankful he has his “forever kidney”!

Unfortunately, after going to see a fertility doctor, we found out that due to all of his abdominal surgeries, he has azoospermia – a blockage in the male reproductive tract. This means the sperm from the testicles can’t leave the body during ejaculation. He is producing a large amount of healthy sperm, we just can’t conceive naturally. After a few tests, our fertility doctor felt that surgery to remove the blockage was not an option. Our best choice is to do IVF. We have been working on saving but with paying for previous medical bills, it’s hard to catch up. We feel we are so close to taking the next steps, we just need a little extra help.