Campaign Story

Nice to meet you!  My name is Dawn. A little bit about me: I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Commercial Art, back in 2002, right before everything went digital. (haha) Some of you might remember how rough the job market was at that time, as well. So, I found myself joining the Air Force as an air traffic controller. From there, I was stationed in North Dakota and deployed to Balad, Iraq. I did my four years and transferred to the Reserves while working for the FAA. I spent the next 10 years transferring back and forth between the Air National Guard and the Reserves. Within that time, I resigned from the FAA after 3 years, went to nursing school, and worked as a CNA while in school. With two semesters left in the program, I realized nursing was too emotionally draining for me to keep moving forward. I could not keep my work from effecting my personal and home life. It was not long before I was offered a job with the federal government as an emergency manager! I finally found a great way to serve the public and keep a work-life balance; and I love my job!

Why am I here? I have wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember. I have unsuccessfully tried to get pregnant in past relationships. I also experience many symptoms of PCOS but have not qualified for an official diagnosis. Because I’m not legally married (and married to a male partner), I am unable to receive IVF treatment or any fertility assistance from the VA.  I now find myself turning 42, this year, with one miscarriage, three failed IUI’s, and a failed IVF egg retrieval (only 5 eggs) under my belt. I feel like I’ve grieved the loss of 9 potential babies.  I’m physically exhausted, emotionally drained, lost, heartbroken, and fiscally broke. My fertility care team explained that I could try another egg retrieval; but statistically, I only have a 15-20% chance of a live birth. If I were to “adopt” eggs, I will have a 75-80% chance of a live birth. Unfortunately, my health insurance does not cover fertility treatments, my State does not offer any assistance, and I am struggling to find any other options for financial assistance for women who choose to remain unmarried. I’ve already spent a lot of money on this whole process. So you can imagine I was heartbroken to hear that my dream of carrying and birthing a child may not happen. Up until this point, I swore I would never use an egg or embryo donor. But here we are, at another brick wall in my very long journey.

About a week after speaking with my doctor about my options, I started looking at sperm and egg donors. Knowing my favorite sperm donors were no longer available, I just hoped I would find a new donor who would check all the same boxes. Guess what!  Someone just so happened to return one vial of my most favorite donor! Is this fate?! I guess so! I immediately called the bank and reserved my vial. At this point, I had no intentions on buying any eggs; especially since they average around $16K for only six eggs. It will take me another year and a half to save up enough money to afford a double donor Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET). But being the planner that I am, I would check all the egg donor sites regularly just to see what is out there. One day I noticed a beautiful donor, whose little girl photos look exactly like my nieces! She sold out that afternoon. A few days later, she was available again! Then she immediately sold out AGAIN. I really didn’t want to spend that much money at the time, but this donor really grabbed my attention. She and my sperm donor would be absolutely adorable together. Yes, I put their childhood photos together in a collage to see what they looked like side-by-side, and O-M-G this photo makes my heart melt! I decided if this donor were to become available again, that she was “the one” and I would drain my savings account to get her. Well… you guessed it… somehow, some way, I got the email alert that she had a “lot” of 6 eggs available again! So here we go! And there went my savings account! I can’t wait to meet this future human. I can’t wait to see them playing with their three young cousins.  I’m excited to learn who they are and help them grow and succeed in life. Daisy, my little furbaby, will make an amazing big sissy!

Where will your generous donation be used? Here is a list of itemized costs that were provided by my fertility clinic. Any amount will help me reduce the financial burden of this process and set me up for success when my little one(s) arrives!

• Coordination of Care/Administration Fee = $3,000
• Donor Eggs = $15,800 (free shipping for military veterans)
• ART Cycle Services = $10,400
• Uterine Testing = $1,000
• Frozen Embryo Transfer ART Cycle Services = $2,700
• Chromosome Assessment (PGS testing) = $2,400
• Estimated Medication Costs = $1,600

Total = $36,900

Thank you for your time and consideration. The fact that you are here, reading my profile, tells me that you are a very special person and deserve all the blessings life has to offer.