Campaign Story

Hi, we’re Heidi and Sean!

We were married in 2021, and have been trying to start a family ever since. Unfortunately, life often doesn’t go as planned. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 endometriosis in 2022, and to date we have been through:

– 4 endometriosis surgeries (including to remove my tubes and ovaries)
– 3 hospitalizations for blood transfusions to due heavy bleeding
– 2 failed egg retrievals (leading to the use of donor eggs)
– 2 failed embryo transfers
– 1 second trimester pregnancy loss at 21 weeks

We went through 2 egg retrievals before discovering that my eggs were not capable of producing an embryo, and decided to go with donor eggs instead. This was initially successful, leading to a pregnancy in 2024, though the hormones made my endometriosis grow and I spent the entire time in terrible pain. Sadly, I went into preterm labor at 21 weeks and we lost our baby girl as she was too small to survive. Just a few days later, I was hospitalized in severe pain, and tests determined that the cause of labor had been an infection in the placenta which had spread to my uterus, requiring a 3 day stay for IV antibiotics.

While this was without a doubt the hardest thing we’ve ever been through, we took comfort in knowing we had 4 embryos left and could try again. A few months after the loss, I had a much-needed surgery (#4) to remove my ovaries which were overcome with large cysts. We also had our embryos genetically tested, and sadly only 2 were normal and usable. Those were transferred in December and January, though sadly neither was successful.

We are now left with 0 embryos, and what’s more – my doctor has recommended moving forward with a gestational surrogate, as he doesn’t think my odds are good of achieving and successfully carrying a pregnancy. To do this though, we will need to acquire more donor eggs to make more embryos, and then find a surrogate willing to carry one of them. (And unfortunately, despite the ‘donation’ aspect of the name, donor eggs are not free.)

This whole process has been, and will continue to be, quite expensive. We have already invested 3 years and I don’t even know how many dollars toward having a baby. And we only want one!

Surrogacy in the U.S averages $100-$150k, which is not within our budget by any means. If we need to find someone through an agency, it will likely be international, which is significantly less but still not inexpensive. This is why we’re asking for help, so we can reduce this initial burden as we start over.

As much as we both hate to ask people for anything, we are so emotionally and physically drained at this point, and we just want our baby. I will likely be having a hysterectomy this year as well (surgery #5), which luckily I have insurance coverage for, but it is another hurdle to deal with and recover from while all this other stuff is going on.

There is something commonly done within IVF circles called a “puzzle fundraiser”, where couples write the name of each person who donates on the back of a puzzle piece. When the puzzle is complete, it is hung on the wall of the nursery as a reminder of everyone who helped bring baby home. So we will be purchasing our own puzzle, and perhaps your name will hang on our wall in the near future. Thank you for even reading this far!

Love,

Heidi & Sean