Campaign Story

Hello my name is Kayla Todnem I am a Special Education self contained life skills teacher of 17 years in a low income district in Phoenix, AZ. I moved to Arizona in 2007 from Minnesota to teach and coach collegiate track and field. I was married 2015 and divorced from a physical and emotional abusive marriage in 2019 which lead me to my choice to be a single mother by choice. In 2020 I started my fertility journey as a single woman and I conceived my daughter through IUI in 2021 from a sperm donor through Fairfax sperm bank. Lilyana is my everything! The biggest blessing I could have ever had! She’s 2.5 years old and since she was born I wanted to give her a sibling and add to my family of Lilyana myself and my Pomeranian dog Betsy! I was able to buy the last 5 vials of the same sperm donor that the sperm bank had due to someone selling it back to the clinic! This was when my journey started. In March 2023 I did my first IUI, May IUI and August IUI. None of these were successful. On my 40th birthday my doctor and I discussed IVF. I did my first IVF egg retrieval on my daughters 2nd birthday. This was unsuccessful with 6 eggs received 1 fertilized and didn’t make it last day 3. January 2024 was my next IVFcycle which the doctor tried a different protocol but was not successful so I canceled that cycle. April 2024 IVF cycle 3 egg retrieval took place 2 eggs retrieved both fertilized but neither made it to an embryo. (Doctor agreed to refreezing unused sperm for 1 more retrieval) May 2024 was my 3rd egg retrieval 4 cycle and final attempt at giving my daughter a biological sibling as it is the last of the sperm donor. I am currently waiting on the genetic test results of 2 Embryos. This is the first time I have had embryos tested!
The sperm donor is inactive and there are no vials in their database. I am a single parent no extra income from family or a significant other. I work any extra paid opportunity as a teacher (garden club, garden coordinator, crisis team, district trainer, summer school, grading IEPs, extended summer school, extra paperwork opportunities) to gain more money to financially pay for IVF. I work as an Adjunct professor for the College of Education at Grand Canyon University teaching future teachers. This is a part time opportunity that is not a set salary and is based on available classes I can teach per college semester. This has provided me extra income and adds to the workload of being a single mother. I am grateful for this opportunity as I was an in person college professor since 2019 and prior to this I coached College Track and Field for Grand Canyon University. I love working for this Christian University. Financially I have paid for 5 vials of sperm, shipping and storage $8,000, 3 IUIs totaling $6,500, 4 IVF Cycles ($46,000 medical and $21,000 medication) Totaling $81,500 for baby #2 by
myself with no medical insurance help as my insurance does not cover any fertility treatments.