Kori & Cody's IVF Journey

Welcome to our journey of creating our family. We are hoping to raise money to help us move through the costly process of In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF).

I’m Kori and I have stage 4 endometriosis, causing severe adhesions on my uterus, ovaries and bowels. I’ve struggled with endo symptoms since puberty, but even though I desperately knew something was wrong, it still took almost 10 years for a diagnosis. It has been about 5 years since I received a diagnosis and after waiting so long, I felt so relieved to know my pain was real. Deep down, I already knew by then that I would struggle with my fertility, but I remained hopeful.

When my husband, Cody, and I got married after 12 years of friendship, we were so excited to begin our family. We prepared for how sick I would be when not taking birth control medications to supress the endometriosis while we tried to conceive, but sadly, only 6 months into trying I became incredibly ill. My doctor quickly got things moving to get me into a fertility clinic but within another month I was admitted to hospital for a week. My ER doctor was amazing and listened intently to what I had to say, I have never felt so heard. He advocated for my concerns that the endometriosis had begun effecting my bowels and pushed for me to have my first surgery.

In January 2023, I had my first surgery confirming severe endometriosis and that my uterus and bowels were now attached due to the adhesions. while she removed as many of the adhesions as possible, the contact with my bowels was outside of her abilities and I was informed I would need to see a specialist in Halifax to have them removed, but we were told to wait and make that decision with our fertility clinic as each surgery poses a risk to reproductive organs.

In May 2023, we got our call from the fertility clinic and began our journey. We were quickly told my only real chance at carrying a child would be IVF. We accepted the news and moved forward with testing, hopeful. Sadly, our next hurdle came when we began testing, due to the adhesions, I had developed hydrosalpinx, a build-up of fluid in my fallopian tube. I was told that if I were to become pregnant and the fluid released, the pregnancy would be terminated. So, with this news, we began the wait for my next surgery consultation. This surgery will be to drain the fluid or remove the tube completely. This consultation will be taking place at the end of February 2024.

Currently, we are in the process of retrieving our eggs to have them frozen, in case any of my future surgeries damage my ovaries. While we would never put a price on our lifelong dream of raising a family, circumstances certainly have. The initial testing we experienced cost us about $850 and our current round of IVF is totaled at $8,350, which covers the egg retrieval, freezing and our first transfer. Not included in that price is the medications ($525 for the retrieval so far), gas and accommodations while were visiting the clinic 2.5 hours away from home. This also doesn’t account for future transfers, additional retrievals or the many weeks of medical leave I will be taking from work.

We have all heard that it takes a village to raise a child. In our case, it will take a village to create one. Our village of emotional supporters and cheerleaders is absolutely amazing, so we are allowing ourselves to ask for help in affording our accumulating medical bills. We thank each and every person who takes time to support us, through sharing, funding or simply reading our story. Ours is one of many and I will continue to advocate for the many families braving through similar processes.