IVF Dreams: Turning Pain into Purpose

I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. It is an experience that shaped me, challenged me, and forced me to grow up far too fast. For years, I carried that trauma quietly, until one day in a sterile medical office, I was told the unimaginable: because of what was done to me, becoming a mother might not be possible.

I cannot begin to explain what it feels like to have your life’s dream, something as simple and sacred as starting a family, ripped away by the hands of someone who caused you so much pain. Especially when that same person went on to have a family of their own.

But I am not one to give up. Neither is Justin.

Justin and I met when I was 17, high school sweethearts. From that very first day, I knew I would love him forever. At 19, we were ready to start a family. Some may have thought this was too young, but when you’ve experienced trauma, you learn how precious time and love really are. I wanted to pour my heart into something beautiful.

So we tried. And tried. And tried.

Nothing happened.

After that first fertility appointment we threw everything we had into this fight: clomid, letrozole, stim shots, a surgery called ovarian drilling (which is just as awful as it sounds). We did IUI. Twice. Every step was hard, but we held onto hope.

Then came the words we’d been dreading: our only option was IVF. And the number that followed? $20,000. Just like that, our dream felt out of reach again.

We paused, hoping for a miracle. And for a brief, beautiful moment, we had one. We got pregnant—and we loved that baby with our whole hearts for the eight weeks they were ours. Until they weren’t. That pain has repeated more times than I can count. Each loss is a name we never got to say, a birthday we never got to celebrate.

But here’s the part that brings us back to hope: we found a new path.

CNY Fertility offers IVF at nearly half the cost. And even better, it’s close to a friend turned sister I met through this journey. This clinic could give us our best chance yet.

But we need help getting there.

After eight years of heartbreak, we are finally in a place where treatment feels possible but we can’t do it alone. If you believe in resilience, in love that refuses to quit, in turning pain into purpose… we’re asking you to stand with us.

Your donation will directly support our IVF journey, every dollar bringing us closer to the family we’ve fought so hard to build. The family that trauma tried to take from us, but we’re determined to create anyway.

Thank you for reading, for witnessing our story, and for helping rewrite its next chapter.