To Our Family & Friends,

Thank you for taking the time to visit our page, that alone already means so much to us.

For those who I haven’t kept up with well: I married the love of my life Courtney in June 2022. She came into my life during a very difficult personal time for me and helped me see the beauty and goodness in the world again. She is a beautiful person who puts so much good into the world. She’s a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who spends her working time and personal hours helping those around her through challenging times.

With her was August, her son from her previous marriage, and my now stepson. He’s an amazing kid and I love him just as much as I love her. He enjoys baseball, soccer, and most things you would imagine a 9 year old boy would. For most of my adult life I was scared of having children, worried I would not be what they needed as a parent. August has taught me so much and helped change my mind on wanting to become a father. I am forever grateful for him. When he tells me he loves me I turn to mush.

A year into our marriage, we talked about giving August a sibling. Courtney has a brother -Derek, and as you know I have Haley (my sister). The best way to describe Courtney and Derek are like twins born three years apart. My sister is someone I’ve always looked up to and admired, and still do. We agreed having siblings is a cherished life experience and we wanted to give August one and grow our little family.

Unfortunately, despite trying for 2 years, we learned that infertility is a hardship we’re facing now. After trying lifestyle changes and modest fertility treatments, we still haven’t been able to conceive.

I worked at Houston Methodist during that time and their benefits only allowed for 1 covered IVF attempt (each attempt typically costs a self-pay price of approx. $20,000 - $30,000). We went through the IVF process earlier this year, and unfortunately were not successful. We found ourselves without a baby, and now without any further treatment options as things were.

Courtney runs her own small, independent mental health practice - focused on making therapy affordable and accessible for people, so she accepts health insurances for services (a generous but not really lucrative practice offering). Being independent though thankfully allows her to also make her own schedule and be able to attend August’s school functions during the daytime. She’s done an amazing job building her small private practice and I’m so proud of her!

The IVF process is long, expensive, and hard— with much of this struggle falling on Courtney and her body. We were not ready to give up our dream of giving August a sibling yet, so I began looking for other Nursing jobs which would give us access to additional covered IVF treatments. Unfortunately, almost all the local Med Center hospitals offer the same benefits: only 1 lifetime max IVF attempt. And per the clinical recommendations of multiple Board Certified fertility (REI) physicians, most couples need more than 1 IVF attempt to achieve conception.

In my search for a solution I found a travel nurse agency that provides better IVF benefits than most other health organizations. We discussed all options at hand and decided even though it would be tough that I would do travel nursing. We felt that we should at least try. Try and give August the gift of a brother or sister, or the finality of knowing we have exhausted all options in pursuit of this family-building dream.

I got the job with the travel company, found a contract, resigned from Methodist in late August, and started working in Arlington, TX so we could access these additional IVF benefits. Living away from my family is hard, but I feel it is worth the struggle to potentially have another child.

However, these benefits which were advertised by this new company were not quite as true as what we’ve come to now experience. While there is technically no lifetime cap on the number of IVF attempts, there are still significant out of pocket expenses upfront which were very unexpected (full deductible amount plus all coinsurance costs, medication costs, copayments, anesthesia services, and other unexpected expenses— are all due upfront before the clinic will even schedule you to begin IVF). Unfortunately this leaves us in an unanticipated financial crunch. A disappointing halt point before we can even start. We now have learned that thankfully once these upfront costs are paid then IVF cycles are covered afterward by the insurance company.

As my family, you have always been kind, gracious, and loving to me. As I have grown older and experienced more life, I have come to a few realizations about our tribe. I could not have been born into a better family. I love talking about you all, and feel so lucky to be a part of such an amazing group of people. Smart, funny, kind, caring, welcoming, and always ready for an impromptu gathering. I’m grateful for each and every one of you.

We wish to add to that tribe and I want to give a child the gift I was given: knowing all of you. Being loved by you all, having a wonderful mother like Courtney, and a fantastic (and precocious) older brother like August.

I’m sorry this message was quite long. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read this as it means so much to us!

If you are able to help us at all, give at any amount, it would be greatly appreciated. We want to one day introduce you to our baby (most likely a girl as that’s all I’ve made with our embryos thus far).

Regardless of what path lies ahead, I want you all to know again just how grateful I am and have always been for you. I have nothing but gratitude for the life I have gotten to live and experience with you all.

With love,

Jimi, Courtney, and August (Auggie)