Campaign Story

Our name’s are Caden and Kameron, and we are here to help raise money to have a child. Growing up we each knew we wanted to be dads more than anything, and what was unlikely then, is now likely; except that money is the barrier. We are planners and had this all planned out. We would be using Kameron’s sister’s egg and Caden’s sperm. We would need to find a gestational carrier at some point but let’s take this one step at a time.

I know family building is expensive for all and every situation is unique. I preface that because I will be speaking to our feelings and experiences going through this journey as a gay couple.

Not a lot of insurances and organizations understand the unique dynamic in an LGBTQ+ relationship when it comes to family building, and a lot of the insurance policies were built to not include a gay couple. We have already been fed misinformation and have to frequently clarify or search for accurate answers. One example being that first we must undergo the IVF process and unknown coverages surrounding. Kameron has health insurance and Caden is on it. We were told months ago, when looking into this and signing up for a plan, by our insurance it was unknown if and how much of the IVF benefit we would be able to utilize, and that they recommend going to the fertility center for an initial consult first to see what they say. We didn’t, and still don’t, know if this initial appointment was covered under the benefit. We did this and just found out our insurance will not let us access any of our IVF benefit because the egg donor, Kameron’s sister, is not on the plan. The fertility center has a contract with the insurance that prevents them from breaking down each cost, as it is a package cost for IVF.

We were sent a $16,400 bill that must be paid before we can schedule IVF and this does not include the medications that they estimate will be $4,000 – $6,000 additional. We additionally have to get a mental health consultation for ourselves and the egg donor, which is $1,000. Additionally we have to get legal contracts written up for the egg donor, which we don’t know the cost for quite yet. We are told this is all out-of-pocket and there are no discounts, payment plans, or assistance to help with this.

The process outlined above is only the IVF portion and not the surrogacy, which is estimated to be an additional $50,000 – $75,000 (we are currently trying to save for this).

We are both in shock at how expensive this is with no assistance, and there isn’t anything to prepare you for it, so almost every day we learn of a new cost at this point in the process. Rates are expensive and cost of living is out of control. We know everyone is being impacted by this and in no way want anyone to feel guilt if they can’t donate. We just thought we would put our journey out there and if anyone was looking to donate, to consider donating to our cause. We are so grateful to be married and to have wonderful friends and family to support us through this.

I hope one day we can have a society where family building is a cost-effective, straight-forward process; and all have the opportunity.

Cheers and with love,

Caden and Kameron