Campaign Story

My name is Cindy, and I have been struggling with PCOS and Endometrial Cancer (also known as womb cancer). My husband and I have been trying to conceive for almost 5 years now. We started our family building journey on July 2017 a year after we were married. I turned 30 that year and I remember wishing for a baby. I have made this wish several years now…I will be turning 35 next month. Thankfully, after 2 years of fighting endometrial cancer I am CANCER FREE! We were able to preserve my womb and our goal is to be able to get pregnant soon so that I can have the opportunity to carry our baby.

As we embark on this IVF journey, we would love to have your support. Your kind donation towards our goal is considered a big blessing and will make an impact on our path to making our baby dream come true. Thank you so much! -Cindy & Daniel M.

Read our story:

I have always had irregular cycles so I figured getting pregnant would be difficult, but I just didn’t realize how painful and complex this journey would turn out for us. After a year of trying to conceive naturally I reached out for help and worked with my Gynecologist to find out why I couldn’t get my cycles regulated. We did several tests, and I finally was diagnosed with PCOS which in my case causes chronic anovulation. I do not ovulate on my own. It has been challenging feeling like we don’t even have a chance each month that passes by.

While working on getting my body prepared for pregnancy we continued doing a lot of hormone testing, ultrasounds, tried medications and even after achieving weight loss, balancing my hormone levels I still couldn’t get my cycles. Another year had passed, and I started to get very worried that something serious was happening. I did my own research and advocated for more testing. This continued for months and finally after two years of searching for answers we discovered that my PCOS which causes my lack of periods led to Endometrial Cancer. I was diagnosed on December 5, 2019. My dream of trying to have a baby was threatened when I learned that I had cancer in my womb. My oncologist told me that a hysterectomy would be the ultimate cure/treatment. He also informed me of a fertility sparing treatment available for young women who want to conceive when diagnosed with early-stage endometrial cancer. I had to go through a surgical procedure to get more accurate testing and stage the cancer.

Thankfully, there was still hope for me as the pathology testing from my hysteroscopy and D&C surgery showed that the cancer was at an early stage-FIGO Grade 1. We were able to preserve my uterus. I had to have a progesterone IUD inserted in my uterus and continue follow-up endometrial biopsies, blood work, and MRIs to check on the progress, and had another hysteroscopy and D&C surgery. On July 2021, a year and a half later I finally got to hear that my womb was CANCER-FREE!!!! I was cleared by my oncologist to continue with my TTC goals and was told to try to get pregnant as quickly as possible. It has been 10 months and I have been working hard to get pregnant. I started fertility treatments and went through three cycles of ovulation stimulation meds in hopes of trying IUI. We started on November 2021; my first cycle was cancelled due to no response to Letrozole, my second cycle was cancelled due to overmatured follicle. This time we had tried high-dose Letrozole and Menopur injections. Sadly, this did not work so we moved on to our third cycle. This cycle was also cancelled mid-cycle due to slow response, but my Dr. agreed to restart the cycle since there was a maturing follicle. We did more Menopur injections. We finally got a follicle to mature, triggered with Ovidrel, and got to do our first IUI procedure! Sadly, this did not work either.

After going through these fertility treatments for over four months we have decided to take a break and plan to move forward with IVF. I am turning 35 in June, and I do not have much time as the risk of the cancer coming back is always there until I have a hysterectomy. I know that waiting and patience is one of the most important virtues when going through infertility, but it just feels unfair to not have the luxury of time with my situation. As the months fly by, I fear that I may lose the opportunity to carry our baby in my womb. I hope and pray for the best outcome and continue fighting.