Support Chiara and Mike build a family with IVF

SOMERVILLE, NJ (US)
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Created 2 years ago
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Fertility Treatments

Support Chiara and Mike build a family with IVF

by Chiara Lafayette

Rated 0 out of 5
  • $15,000.00

    Fundraiser Goal
  • $11,065.00

    Funds Raised
  • 0

    Days to go
$11,065.00 raised of $15,000.00 Goal
The campaign is successful.
SOMERVILLE, NJ (US)

Chiara Lafayette is organizing this fundraiser.

Campaign Story

For those who do not know me, my name is Chiara, and my husband is Michael. Family is important to us, whether biological or chosen. We love and care for our family unconditionally, but we never thought we would have trouble conceiving our own.

Our story is a long one. We met ten years ago, back in our home state of Vermont. At the time, we both had no intention of falling in love, but fall, we did. I had just turned 22, and he was about to turn 31. This was a bit intimidating for me, since I knew he was ready for a family, and I knew I was not. He even asked me, in the first few weeks of dating, if having children was something I wanted. Of course, it was, I just wanted to finish college first.

After three long years of a long-distance relationship, moving to NJ, and getting engaged, we thought our lives were finally coming together. But, boy, were we wrong. Over the last five years, our lives have flipped upside down. My job was horrible, his job was beyond terrible, we were barely making ends meet, helping with sick family members, and then COVID happened. COVID led to me losing my job; we did not get to have the wedding of our dreams and to top it all off, Mikeโ€™s father passed away, all in the same year. With all that was going on in the world, we decided that life was too short to stop living, and we were not going to let all of this pain keep us from what we really wanted in life: a family.
So, we started actively trying to start our new family, which did not go as planned. After a year of trying and so many tears and frustration, we decided to get evaluated for infertility issues. Mike was first, and things did not come back great. We were heartbroken. We felt like we were living in some sick joke we could not escape. I was up next, and we both felt or knew things would be fine, and as expected they were. But, we still soldered on with the knowledge that we had a medical issue against us.
After months of testing and over $6,000 of out-of-pocket expenses, our doctor has told us that IVF is our best option. On the one hand we are fortunate enough to live in a state with government-mandated infertility coverage, through group insurance (where most states do not have any coverage) and now that we are on Mikeโ€™s new jobโ€™s health insurance, we crossed our fingers that there weren’t any more obstacles. It turns out that Mike’s new insurance does give us coverage, but it is not without a catch. We can only use it ONCE FOR LIFE, and it does not cover as much as we hoped.
Because of these insurmountable struggles, we find ourselves writing this letter and feel this may be our ONLY SHOT. With the medications ranging from $300 to $3,000+ and $100 co-pays with each doctorโ€™s visit, even with the money we have saved for starting a family, and the money set aside for our post-COVID wedding event, it will not get us as far as we hoped. So, we are asking for help. Please know that it is hard for us to ask for help from people we know, especially people we do not, but we find ourselves here, nonetheless. We also feel that by sharing our story and struggle, we will not only help ourselves but also help others by bringing this critical issue to the public. We hope to make more people aware of the struggles of infertility and how real they are. We have learned that infertility affects 1 in 8 couples nationwide. And, as a country and society, we do not talk about it enough. Mike and I believe this is such an important topic and so many people are affected by this issue.

We thank you for taking the time to read our story and your donations to help make our dream of being parents possible. Mike and I have also decided that any money we do not use, we will be paying forward to another couple going through the same heartache that we are experiencing.

Thank you,

Chiara & Mike

Name Donation Date
Gemma V Pierro $50.00 September 15, 2022
Jackie Lipton $15.00 August 26, 2022
Patricia Furtak $2,000.00 July 26, 2022
Alejandro Herrera $250.00 July 20, 2022
edward westervelt $50.00 July 19, 2022
Mary Rogstad $50.00 July 18, 2022
Mariel Bass $1,500.00 July 11, 2022
Anonymous $50.00 July 09, 2022
Saul & Julia Gresser $6,000.00 July 09, 2022
Anonymous $1,000.00 July 07, 2022
Michael Gleeson $100.00 July 07, 2022