Andrew and Victoria's Genetic IVF Journey

On September 23rd 2018 Andrew and Victoria welcomed baby Loretta Louise Hillier into their family. Shortly after her birth, Loretta was diagnosed with Gauchers Disease. Loretta was a beautiful and tough baby that went through so many medical procedures, several biopsies and a liver transplant to try and save her life. Most of her life was spent living in Kingston General Hospital and Sick Kids in Toronto. Unfortunately Loretta lost her battle and passed away at 8.5 months old on June 5th 2019. Andrew and Victoria are heartbroken after losing their little Loretta. She brought so much joy to their family and will always be remembered as their little sweetheart. This devastating loss has been extremely difficult for their family. As it is now known that together, Andrew and Victoria, carry Gauchers Disease, having children becomes more complicated. Genetic screening and testing is now required, and therefore Andrew and Victoria need to go through In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) with additional genetic testing for Gauchers Disease. The IVF process consists of the ovarian stimulation, egg retrieval, fertilization and embryo culture, embryo transfer and progesterone supplementation. However now with the required disease testing, an exact copy of Gauchers Disease is created so that they can screen the chromosomes to ensure it doesn't carry the disease before implantation. This additional genetic testing is done through a company in the USA called Cooper-genomics. This GoFundMe page is to help facilitate Andrew and Victoria's dream of having children together. All funds go to the IVF procedure at the Ottawa Fertility Clinic and the genetic screening probe and screening through Cooper-genomics. Andrew and Victoria are grateful for any support through this journey. Losing Loretta has been devastating but they are hoping to share their love and life with having another baby together. 

Thank you all so much for  your love and support for my dear friends Victoria and Andrew . 

 Robin Belliveau