Campaign Story

Five years ago, after leaving a lonely and unhappy marriage, I was blessed to meet who can only be described as the man of my dreams and my perfect partner. An incredibly thoughtful, supportive, funny man who has unparalleled integrity and is a fantastic stepfather. A man who came to me without children of his own.

After my divorce I made peace with the fact that I would likely be a mother of one. But falling in love with Ryan and deciding to make a life with him created a new reality for me. I knew Ryan would make a fantastic father, and I wanted the honor of being the woman to make that happen.

Shortly after getting married we of course started trying to conceive. Because of my age, when we didn’t have success after 6 months, we started to explore why. Working with a reproductive center I started medications and tried insemination procedures. We were overjoyed and blown away when the first IUI was successful. However, at 9 weeks, we were devastated to find out that I had miscarried.

Having experienced success with the IUI and because it was the more inexpensive route, we decided to try that procedure again. In total we have tried and failed to conceive through IUI 7 times. We knew it was time to take a different course of action but had no idea how we would pay for an IVF procedure. Ryan is a firefighter, and I am an librarian. While these are fulfilling professions that we are passionate about, they are definitely not lucrative and don’t provide infertility insurance.

Not only do I want to give Ryan the gift of fatherhood, I want to give my son Brady the gift of brotherhood. There will be no one more excited to welcome a baby into our home than Brady. He absolutely lights up around children of any age and will be the best playmate, mentor, protector, and friend any child could have.

I do not ask for your support because I believe I deserve it more than anyone else. I have been blessed with the gift of parenthood once. I ask for your support because my very special and one in a million husband makes this world a better place. He is helping me raise Brady to be a strong, kind man and any child raised by him will continue to make this world a better place. Ryan deserves the gift of parenthood, and your help could make that possible.