Campaign Story

Hi there! Thank you so much for taking time to look at this story. My name is Maria and this story is about my sister Emmalee and brother in law Austin. Emmalee was once a vet tech but now is a stay at home caregiver for Austin. Austin is Active Duty Army but is in the process of getting medically discharged due to some severe medical problems. The two of them have been together for 7 years (2.5 married). They have been trying to have a baby for 2 years now since Emmalee got the challenging diagnosis of PCOS in July 2022. After that diagnosis, they decided it’s best to try and have a family sooner rather than later due to concerns about egg quality. They got pregnant in Oct. 2022 and were overjoyed realizing their dream was coming true. However, at the end of December, they got the devastating news that their baby (Avery) had gone to heaven at 10 weeks gestation. Due to this passing Emmalee had a DNC (a procedure to remove the pregnancy contents) procedure on her birthday in 2023. They did not let this stop their dreams of becoming parents and continued trying with the use of letrozole. Luckily they got pregnant after 3 rounds in June of 2023, but unfortunately again had a miscarriage that resulted in another DNC in July 2023. During this time though, Austin fell very ill, lost a lot of weight, was unable to eat and was hospitalized multiple times. These hospitalizations led to a surgery that has him gaining weight back. During this time Emmalee was faced with the hard decision to leave her place of employment to be a stay at home caregiver as Austin was and is still unable to drive himself to and from multiple day appointments weekly. Sadly this cut their income in half and has forced them to make significant adjustments to their daily lives since June 2023.

Even with all these trials Emmalee and Austin have stayed confident in their dreams of becoming parents. They know that every door God has closed he is opening up a window. After Austin’s surgery, they waited a few months and started letrozole again, on the third round they fell pregnant once again, however it resulted in a miscarriage and their hearts broke. This final miscarriage meant that they would be referred to a reproductive endocrinologist to look at other treatment options.

After discussing it with the fertility clinic, it was decided that IVF is in their best interest to ensure a healthy and successful pregnancy. Unfortunately, their current insurance does not cover any of the costs associated with IVF aside from the diagnostic testing prior to IVF. This means that all costs such as medications, retrieval, and transfers will be out of pocket. The estimated price is around $30,000. I am hoping you all will help me support their dream to become parents. If you are able to donate and support even a little bit it will help greatly as this is a huge sum of money. We greatly appreciate it and any support including  sharing this fundraiser and prayers. This has been a long journey and struggle. If you don’t know them they are caring and giving people who do just about anything they can for others. Emmalee and Austin have been a huge help and support to me and my son who looks to them as additional parents. Our families are excited at this next step and with your help they will be able to achieve parenthood.

Thank you so much for reading about their journey. Please remember anything helps and we are beyond grateful for any and all your help!

God Bless!