Campaign Story

We’ve heard it takes a village to raise a child. In our case it is taking a village to make one! My name is Brooklyn Guzman and my husband Jody Guzman and I got married on May 22nd, 2021. One of the earliest topics in our relationship was our shared desire to become parents.

We each pursued a master’s degree in education after college. Jody in secondary education to become a middle school teacher, and myself in Special Education to become a teacher of the Deaf. Once we completed our degrees we were so excited to be ready to start our family. We were entirely unprepared for the battle we would face to fight to become parents.

After six months of no success we met with an OB/GYN and I was diagnosed with PCOS which means I don’t ovulate on my own very often, making it very difficult to get pregnant naturally. We added medications to induce ovulation for another six months before turning to a fertility clinic.

At our clinic we tried an IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) which required daily blood draws, ultrasounds, and, unexpectedly, nightly injections. After our first IUI was unsuccessful we began the process of IVF.

Ten days of three injections a day, we finally made it to egg retrieval in September 2024. We made 7 beautiful embryos, 5 of whom tested as genetically viable.

Another bump in the road, I developed a polyp from all the injections and had to have surgery to remove the polyp in October 2024. We were finally ready to transfer our first embaby on November 7th 2024.

The transfer cycle is weeks of estrogen patches, progesterone injections, that are 3 inch long needles, and a couple of ultrasound and blood tests. Then the dreaded two weeks to wait for the blood test to see if the transfer was successful. We were crushed when we learned our first baby boy did not stay with us.

Come January 6th 2025, the week after Jody’s achilles surgery repair, we transferred our next baby boy. This protocol was the same but with stomach injections and steroid pills to try to help. We were numb and terrified and when our next sweet boy did not make it either we were broken all over again.

We pursued testing in February 2025 which included the transfer cycle medications again for weeks. At my baseline scan they found a cyst and my cycle was cancelled and I was told to wait out the cyst and there was nothing I could do.

March of 2025 we tried our testing cycle again and this time we were able to go through with it! I got some (painful) biopsies that revealed that I have no good bacteria in my uterus, and more importantly, I have endometriosis. With the symptoms I have had my whole life I was not surprised it was there, just surprised it took so long for someone to believe me.

May 9th 2025 I underwent surgery to remove stage 2 endometriosis from five areas in my pelvic region. While this helps get the endometriosis out for now, unfortunately endometriosis is a chronic disease that I will have to navigate the rest of my life.

Jody and I want nothing more than to grow our family. We have been overwhelmed by the generosity, love, and support we have received from our support systems. So many kind, generous people ask what they can do to help. In reality, the thing we need most is financial support. We have spent upwards of $50,000 in the past year of infertility. We are still not out of the woods. We have more medications, transfers, endometriosis surgeries required any time we want to have a baby, and appointments to name a few of the impending future costs.

With my 30th birthday coming up and people asking what I want for this milestone, I figured I would share this option as there is nothing I want more in this world than a baby. We ask that you only give if it comes from a place of abundance. We do not want anyone to put themselves in a difficult situation on our behalf. Thank you for all the continued love and support, in every single form that support comes in. We know Baby Guzman is already so loved whenever it is finally our turn!