Help me raise money for Pink Elephants

For the last 7 years or more it’s been a resolution of mine to run a half marathon, and in 2024 I’m finally doing it!

In 2020 we started trying for a baby. After 12 months of no success, we started IVF. What followed was the hardest 18 months of my life - physically, mentally, emotionally, financially.

During that time we did 8 embryo transfers, two resulting in pregnancies that we lost early. Having a baby through IVF makes the process very medicalised and I felt completely disregarded by fertility specialists who brushed our experience aside. As the IVF process went on I found myself struggling more and more emotionally - it wasn’t until someone mentioned to me that it was okay to acknowledge our losses that I allowed myself to grieve.

Undergoing IVF, you are very restricted with exercise and I hated not being able to do my usual activities - exercise has always been my means to manage stress. Both infertility and pregnancy loss can impact your relationship with your body and make you feel that it is broken in some way. Today, I am grateful for a body that went through hundreds of injections, hormones, steroids, pregnancy loss and surgeries, and that grew and birthed our magic baby. While I may be slower and sorer than I used to be, 3 months postpartum I started running and training for a half marathon.

I’ll be running in Canberra on the 7th of April. I’m running for our rainbow baby Frida and for the babies we lost.

Since our experience, I’ve learnt about Pink Elephants Support Network - an amazing charity that aims to ensure no-one walks the path of pregnancy loss alone.

My goal is to raise $1,600 - enough to support two women through a six week bereavement program.

Your help would mean so much.

Pregnancy after loss = extreme anxiety and testing for weeks to check if you’re losing this one too