Margarita's IVFund

Margarita is a living, breathing angel of the earth who spends her days caring for other peoples’ children with the focus, love and endless hours that only a parent’s heart can understand. She is from the Dominican Republic, and came to the states many years ago where she married and lives with her equally as hard working husband, Peter. They have been trying to have a baby of their own now for three and a half years.

We became close after my husband and I invited her into our home to watch our daughter outside of the regular daycare hours where she normally cares for her. I would imagine a lot of working mothers and fathers can relate to this, but I struggled with returning to my full time career after having our daughter, and leaving her in the arms of even the most qualified strangers was not ideal for me, but that fear was alleviated by Margarita. As she and my babies bond grew my soul was eased by the care and love I saw my child was receiving every day. Our first languages are not the same; (hers Spanish, mine English) it can sometimes make communicating complicated, but my heart effortlessly opened to her as I saw in her the wisdom of a mother and as I learned that her heart longed for a child of her own, my heart longed to help her.

A few weeks ago, Margarita came to the house visibly shaken up. She let me know that she had spent most of the day in the ER speaking to doctors about some reproductive issues she was having. It wasn’t news to me that she was trying to conceive, but it was news to me that she was having problems doing so. I had a hard time understanding why she felt she needed to go to the ER to handle it, but my gut knew that it was likely that she was being passed around the system a bit with either city insurance or none at all. Having been in these low-income and uninsured situations myself, my instincts proved correct. Margarita has a limited insurance plan that doesn’t allow for quick or informed answers from constant caretakers. 

We immediately made plans to sit down and review her medical history, and how we could get her to a direct line of care she deserves. We reviewed a few recommended fertility clinics that were given to her via the previous ER appointment, weeded out the options that weren’t available to her based on age, medical history, insurance etc… and found what we believed would be her best fit for care.

IVF comes at a very high cost. Pair that with the incomprehensible emotional stress to begin this journey, and the unspeakable reality of not being able to afford it. When one desires to become pregnant with hardship, all of this compiled is potentially one of the most disheartening experiences a woman can go through. 

The cost of the IVF procedure is one neither of us can afford in total, and though New Hope offers lower costs than a traditional facility, they are still remarkably high.

There is nothing more I want for this incredible woman and her husband than to allow them the joy of becoming a parent to their own child. We have been through many tears and hopeful conversations to fully wrap our heads around the moving parts, emotional and financial weight we are all taking on in this journey. My husband and I have funded the appointments that have brought us to this next step, and it is with your help that we are committed to seeing the next steps through.

Please consider donating what you can, if money isn’t a value you can offer please consider sending prayers.

Peace and love,

Evelyn, Derek, Charlotte, Margarita and Peter

P.s. If you would like transparency around the associated costs involved to reach this number, please message me and I would be happy to explain!