Hello, my name is Jessica & I am raising money on my friend's behalf. Here is Sara's story.

Aaron and I are coming up on our 10 year anniversary. We have been trying to conceive for 5 years. In 2021, I got a positive! Then my landlord decided to sell our home and told us to we had 30 days to find a new place to live. I was beyond stressed. And then I had a miscarriage at 6 weeks, on our way to Michigan for Aaron's grandparents 50th year anniversary party. Was this from the stress? Why was this happening? We were devastated. I cried the entire trip.

In 2022, no positives, just a lot of wondering why it wasn't happening for us. In 2023 I finally got the HSG and the answer to why I was not falling pregant. Diagnosis: Hydrosalpinx in left fallopian tube with blockage and scarring. (That explains that miscarriage.) Right tube open, but mildly dialated. More devastation.

After countless research on hydrosalpinx, I found some resources saying I could get rid of it with home remedies. I tried those for a year. Nothing changed and nothing happened.

In 2024 I finally booked the surgery. I thought let's remove the bad tube and try with the other tube. March 2024, my doctor removed the hydrosalpinx and cauterized my left tube. $11,000 that insurance wouldnt cover because its "infertility"! But he gave me a photo to remember it by! It was twisted and completely scarred up by the ovary. I asked him to leave in my right tube, so he did, but he told me it did not look great and I was at risk for ectopic and should consider moving forward with IVF.

IVF at his facility was quoted about $30k all together with egg retrieval, meds, and transfer. Who can afford that? I decided to try naturally and hoped for a miracle.

September 2024, Hurricane Helene came through. My power went off and I feel a little nauseous. I chalk it up to stress, but then I thought "hmm.. maybe I should take a test??" And with my power off, flashlight in hand and hurricane winds beating my windows... that test was positive.

After my first miscarriage and the history of my infertility as well as the knowledge of my last remaining fallopian tube not being perfectly healthy, I was apprehensive about the positive test. I was scared of another let down and scared of another loss. But wouldn't it be amazing if I could save $30k and get pregnant for free?! That would be amazing.

I contacted my OBGYN and I explained my history and asked them to send me for HCG tests and an ultrasound as soon as they could.

HCG was rising as it should and on October 15th I go in for my 6 week ultrasound. Tomorrow's my 35th birthday! I thought, "This is either going to be a really great birthday gift or the most devastating birthday of my life." I was actually feeling really positive and wasn't stressed at all. The ultrasound tech took forever trying to find it. She's not allowed to say anything, but I just knew. I was the last evening appointment the day and she put me in a waiting room. Why was I waiting in this room for 45 minutes? Surely this is bad news.

Finally, she got the on call doctor on the phone. She explained that the fetus was growing in my right fallopian tube and I would need emergency surgery to remove the pregnancy. Tomorrow. On my 35th birthday.

This topped all my devastation yet. I cried and sobbed uncontrollably all night. I was absolutely crushed. Why does this keep happening to me?

As soon as my surgery was over, I wanted my pregnancy back as soon as possible. I called the IVF clinic and they told me I should be good to start in January. We scraped together all our savings and came up with the $21,000 for egg retrieval. How exciting! This is finally happening for me! This is it!!

I focused on taking my vitamins, eating nutritious foods, getting sunshine, exercising when I could. I was going to be so healthy this egg retrieval was going to produce such great results, I just know it!!

Egg retrieval day. We got 11 eggs! But why wasnt that number higher? My AMH is 1.7, I don't have diminished ovarian reserve! That's okay though, statistically I should probably get 2-3 good embryos out of those 11! That's enough for one healthy child, right?

Day 2 phone call: We retrieved 11 eggs. Of those 11, only 4 were mature and 2 were fertilized. . . . .

I was not expecting such bad results. What went wrong?? Surely these 2 are not going to make it to blast AND pass PGT testing. The odds are against me. All that money. All those shots. For nothing?

I'm 35. My AMH is 1.7. No endo. No PCOS. No male factor. No uterine problems. BMI normal. Just a tubal factor. So why were my results THIS bad??

Devastated but tried to stay busy waiting for the day 5 phone call. I mentally and emptionally have never felt this unwell. I dont even know what to do with myself at this point. The anxiety and anticipation is killing me...

Day 6 the phone call finally came. I can tell in the tone of her voice is was going to be bad news. None of them made it to blast. One made it to the morula stage, but that was as far as it got. Why did this happen?

Back to square one. How do I do this again when we spent our entire savings? How much time do I have? I am already 35!

There is nothing more we want than to become parents. We have so much love to give and things to teach. Aaron's sister was murdered in 2023, so Aaron will never be an Uncle and with my fertility issues will he ever get to be a dad? Will his mom ever get to be a grandma? Everybody else has their families and their joy and over here we are just stuck. Our family has been through so much and we desperately need something good to come our way. We are so ready for our rainbow after this storm. We will not give up.

Sara & Aaron are some of the kindest, caring & amazing people I know. Please, if you can, help them achieve the greatest blessing. Thank you ❤️