My name is Alexa Score, and I’m asking for your support on behalf of my sister and best friend, Tiff, her partner Steve, and their beautiful daughter, Shea, as they navigate an unthinkable IVF embryo mix up.
Tiff and Steve pursued in vitro fertilization (IVF) in hopes of becoming parents. They spent years preparing for a child - taking classes, building a nursery and filling it with books and toys. In 2025, Tiff became pregnant via embryo transfer at the Fertility Center of Orlando. They spent months anticipating their first child, sharing their excitement and joy with family and friends who hosted numerous baby showers in multiple states.
After an emergency C-section on December 11th, 2025, Tiffany gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. However, confusion and disbelief soon followed. Days after giving birth, a DNA test confirmed the unthinkable had happened: Tiffany had carried and given birth to someone else’s child. Their IVF doctor had implanted the wrong embryo.
The emotional trauma produced by such a scenario is impossible to comprehend: desperately wanting to celebrate the miracle that is birth while battling utter shock and confusion. Not to mention, being unable to talk to family and friends about their grief. This complex situation brings up multiple questions: Who and where are the baby’s biological parents? Where are Tiffany and Steve’s embryos? Were their embryos implanted into someone else? Do Tiffany and Steve have living breathing children in this world? The possibilities are hard to fathom.
To make matters worse, since contacting their IVF clinic, their doctor, Dr. Milton McNichol, and the clinic , The Fertility Center of Orlando, have provided little to no information regarding the search for Shea’s biological family nor their embryos. Tiff and Steve feel a moral obligation to find and notify Shea's biological parents, as they would want the same if the roles were reversed. To say the lack of action by the clinic is reprehensible hardly does the situation justice.
Despite the chaos and confusion, Tiff and Steve have flourished in providing the most-loving, compassionate, and thoughtful care for their sweet baby – a selfless love that only a mother and a father can know. Shea is happy and healthy and utterly loved by so many - parents, grandparents, cousins, uncles, and aunts. With that said, the entire family lives with the constant fear that Shea could be taken from us at any moment.
In addition to caring for their baby and navigating this complex and devastating nightmare, Tiff and Steve are still both working their respective jobs. Tiff does not get paid leave as an independent contractor, and this situation has limited her ability to work at a reasonable capacity. Tiff also continues to recover from emergency c-section, postpartum hormones, and the inherent stress of caring for a newborn. Witnessing their courage and strength has been truly mind-blowing.
Baby's well-being has been and will continue to be Tiff and Steve’s priority. She spends her days nestled in a warm, nurturing environment thanks to the love of her parents and the beautiful and thoughtful gifts they were showered with before and after her birth.
The funds raised will help cover extensive medical expenses, including prior IVF costs, hospital bills, and mental health therapies. They will also support efforts to locate Shea’s biological family and to find Tiff and Steve’s genetic embryos, which may or may not still exist. In addition, funds may be used to retrieve eggs that were frozen during an IVF cycle completed at a different clinic seven years ago—an option they never anticipated needing. The process of retrieving, thawing, fertilizing, and implanting these eggs and embryos can cost tens of thousands of dollars, on top of the ten's of thousands already spent on IVF treatments.
We thank you all for your loving support during this unimaginably complex time.