Help Cassie Maske Build Her Family

My name is Sophia Berryman and I am a student at Parkview High School. I have had Mrs. Maske for two years through Algebra 2 and AP Precalculus. Mrs. Maske is not only an amazing teacher but also an extremely kind and generous person. At her young age, she is the department chair of our math department at Parkview, as well as the sponsor for our math club, which provides free math tutoring for all students before and after school every day. Over these past two years, I have only ever had positive experiences with Mrs. Maske. She has become someone who I can look to for help with problems in school and out. When I learned about her condition and struggles, it fell very heavy on my heart. She is someone who has given back so much to the Parkview community, and all I wanted to do was help. I asked her to share her story (below) through this long journey, and I would really appreciate it if you took a chance to read, share, or donate.

My name is Cassie Maske, and I am a mathematics teacher/department chair at Parkview High School in Gwinnett County Georgia. I am 32 years old, and my infertility journey started two years ago. My daughter had just turned 2 and we decided it was the right time to expand our family. My daughter, Sophia, is the spunkiest, sweetest, and most outgoing little girl you will ever meet. She loves other kids, and we have always known that she was meant to be a big sister. My husband, James, and I also knew we were meant to have more kids. It is a hard feeling to describe unless you are a mom yourself, but I was meant to be a mom. It is the best thing I have ever done, and I know that my motherhood journey is not over yet.

When we started trying for another child, we never thought in a million years we would go through this struggle. We got pregnant after a few months of trying….and immediately had a miscarriage. Of course, we were devastated but decided to try again. We quickly got pregnant again after my first miscarriage. We were ecstatic. We hit the 10-week mark and started telling our friends and family how excited we were to have another child join our family! Then, we went to get our first ultrasound… and there was no heartbeat. We were crushed. After multiple rounds of medicine that didn't work, I had to get surgery. During surgery, my doctors discovered that my pregnancy had turned into a rare condition called a placenta accreta. Due to this condition, the doctors unfortunately caused irreparable damage to my uterus during an hours long surgery in which I started to hemorrhage out. After the hospital stay, the doctors still gave me hope that all would be well and that if I took some medicine, I would still heal and be able to carry children. Weeks turned to months, and my cycle did not return. I went in about 5 months later for an exploratory surgery to try to figure out what was going on. This was supposed to be a 30-minute surgery that again, turned into an hours long surgery where my fallopian tubes became detached resulting in even more damage and a laparoscopic surgery. It was over, I could no longer carry children.

Thankfully, through all the surgeries and trauma, I was able to keep my ovaries. My doctors explained I was a perfect candidate for surrogacy as I had all my eggs still intact and could create embryos through IVF and get a surrogate to carry my child for me. As soon as my husband and I heard about surrogacy, we knew it was the right path for us. Although we know this is the right path for us and we are incredibly grateful that we are able to go down this path… This path is expensive. Unfortunately, insurance does not cover any of our fertility expenses. We have had to take out a second mortgage on our house to afford this journey which has put a significant financial strain on our family. I honestly never thought to ask for help from our community but when my student Sophia heard of my struggles, she immediately jumped in and said she wanted to try to help through this GoFundMe. She told me, “You always tell us to not be afraid to ask for help when we are struggling in math class, now it is your turn to take that advice and ask for help.” If you feel moved to support us in any way - through a donation, sharing our story, or by simply sending words of encouragement, my family and I would be incredibly grateful. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your kindness, support and generosity that gets us one step closer to building our family.