Help Michelle & Alex Start A Family
Imagine having to spend over $75,000 for a chance at having a baby and starting a family, only to have two sweet babies carried in your heart and not your arms. This is the reality of my sister and her husband, and it breaks my heart knowing that their journey towards parenthood has been storm clouds, one after another.
There’s no feeling more infuriating than not being able to do anything at all to help someone you love the most in life as they experience years of disappointment and sadness. For the past 5 years, I’ve had to watch my sister and brother-in-law go through the heart-breaking process of struggling to start a family due to infertility.
Infertility is seen as a taboo subject that is hardly talked about and at the same time is all too common. I’ve seen the wear and tear that infertility has on my loved ones and how all-encompassing it is on every part of life. It has been my sister’s dream since I can remember to be a mother. She has always taken care of everyone around her (especially me) and was born a compassionate nurturer. She constantly gives her all to everyone and deserves to live out her dream of being a mother.
At the end of 2019, they decided to move forward with IVF after the good ol’ fashion way hadn’t worked and they had 4 failed IUIs—unfortunately, they BOTH have infertility. In 2020 they had 3 egg retrievals resulting in 3 viable embryos and 1 procedure to remove a polyp from her uterus. In 2021 they went through 2 transfer cycles and suffered 1 failed transfer and 1 miscarriage.
They have 1 viable embryo left but hope to do another egg retrieval now rather than to wait longer, in case the last embryo does not work. My sister and her husband have been holding in these emotional and mentally draining experiences for years and have finally decided to start sharing their journey and story with infertility. They hope to raise awareness and find solace with others who are experiencing the same or similar situations. Our family hopes and prays every day for their dreams of starting a family to come true. As her younger (overly protective) sister, it makes me so upset and frustrated that I can’t do enough to help them make this dream a reality. I wanted to put together a fundraiser to reach out to our community to ask for help with their ongoing efforts to start a family.
At this point, they have spent around $75,000 in treatments (IVF cycles, medications, labs, acupuncture, supplements, etc.) in an attempt to start a family. They have used all of their savings, taken out loans, and applied for grants. Infertility treatments are stressful enough but then you add the burden of money. Infertility treatments are very expensive and in most cases, like theirs, are not covered by insurance.
Here’s a breakdown of the cost of ONE IVF cycle, for context:
$17,500 (Ivf cycle, includes egg retrieval, embryo making, PGS testing, and one transfer)
$5,000-6,000 for cycle and transfer medications
$1,000+ in labs
$400-$600 a month for weekly fertility acupuncture for both
“It’s a very emotional process going through infertility. It changes you in so many ways. Your life is basically on hold and the longer it goes on the more lost you feel and the more lost from yourself you feel. It’s like you are frozen in time but time and everyone else around you keeps progressing, and you’re left behind. We want to be parents more than anything in the world. I’ve wanted to be a mother since I can remember. Every day that we aren’t parents our hearts break. We hope this works for us.”
– Michelle & Alex Meyer
Thank you for taking the time to read this, anything at all helps. Please keep my sister, Michelle, and her husband, Alex, in your thoughts and prayers.
Love you all so much!
Maryann