- Y
- M
Dear Community,
Michelle and Scott Berry here,
The Mission:
We have been on a mission to save future generations of children with a group of heroic embryologists from the Ukraine, who risked their lives going back into Kyiv to save babies who had been abandoned because of challenging legal and safety issues, working with their on the ground resources to find the babies voluntary care while they figure out the laws to get them to loving and caring homes. They also rescued >12,000 embryos for future parents to be, and helped pregnant mothers get to safety and give birth under safer conditions. Their mission has involved working with military official groups for complex evacuations, loading 60kg tanks of embryos into their cars, driving for 17 hrs, getting stopped and held up at gunpoint, waiting at the border for 10 hrs, then getting paperwork in order for 3 hrs. They went back and forth six more times across the borders into Slovakia continuing to risk their lives for their rescue mission. The Head Embryologist said to us “This is my life’s work, I have to save the future generations of these children. This is my will to live.” Many embryos were bombed, or did not make it out of Ukraine.
How We Are Helping:
We immediately went into action. Michelle flew to Europe to meet the team of doctors and their families, brought as much cash as possible, secured a house for 25 of them to stay together for a year, fully furnished it from scratch, and helped get the children into a local international school, while their mothers continued their very complex work of evacuations, keeping the embryos safe, connecting intended parents to their babies in dangerous situations, and finding new clinics abroad to continue pregnancy options for international patients.
We did a couple of road trips to neighboring countries Hungary and Romania to fill up tanks of liquid nitrogen, as the embryo tanks only last for 22-30 days. We started running out! Slovakia as a country was completely out of liquid nitrogen! But other clinics and good samaritans thankfully came to the rescue in neighboring countries! Most of the doctors are women and mothers who have been working around the clock, sometimes only getting 2 hours of sleep per night without getting paid salaries. They also don’t have the help of their husbands or partners who are back home conscripted in the war, which adds to the stress of the situation for them and their children. And to top it off the family got hit with covid right after their evacuation, followed by chicken pox amongst the children. It’s been a trying time.
This family is now our family, with an overwhelming feeling of mutual love and gratitude.
Our Story:
We have been on a fertility journey for 9 years going through 10 rounds of IVF in multiple countries around the world, including getting stuck in Poland for the first 3 months of the pandemic, while grieving what we thought would be our last hope at having a family until we found surrogacy in Ukraine. Scott generously spent 1 month alone in Ukraine interviewing all of the agencies, clinics, and doctors, handling the paperwork, and getting to know the Ukrainian people. To say that I am grateful for this man and his warrior spirit is an understatement. Our embryologist was a miracle worker and our surrogate was pregnant on the first try. We were overjoyed, however, within the first 72 hours of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, she had a very complicated miscarriage in a barebones hospital all alone with no one by her side. We stayed on video chat with her the whole time comforting her, praying with her, telling her everything would be ok, wishing desperately we could be there with her in person. She is healthy, and now reunited with her two young children in a safe place, and makes homemade cherry pies for the Ukraine soldiers. We continue to communicate with her in Ukrainian and provide her family support.
What We Have Learned:
The ecosystem of impact from a war is far beyond what the eye can see. Caring for pregnant mothers was critical, and just one of the many important humanitarian needs for Ukrainians. Ukraine is one of the most robust and legalized countries in the world for surrogacy which also feeds part of their economy. This form of income for many families and their economy instantly went away.
When Intended Parents (IPs) around the world reach the point of surrogacy it typically means they have tried everything else - some IPs in our surrogacy groups have been trying to conceive for 20 years, and the financial, emotional, relational, and medical toll this has taken on them is immense. To be accepted into legal surrogacy, you have to prove that you have tried everything else before moving forward with this option. They need our help too.
Despite the darkness and tragedy we have seen, LOVE triumphs over fear and hate. The gestures small and large from humankind that we have witnessed since the war began has blown our mind, and we are deeply grateful for all of the angels who have shown up, and offered care and support along the way. Please don't stop. They will need support for years to come to rebuild their beautiful country.
Many Ukrainians are very patriotic. Our surrogate did not want to leave Ukraine, and that is her sovereign choice. She also could not bear leaving without her mother and sister who are still in a war torn area surrounded by Russian military, spending the majority of their time in a bomb shelter. We are in contact with her every day to offer comfort and financial assistance.
Russian citizens are innocent in this too, and unfortunately have also been impacted by power that is out of their control, and discriminated against in unimaginable ways. We are ALL one human race that deserves our compassion.
This is not just a war between Russia and Ukraine, it is layers and layers of global trauma that needs to be healed for all of us. All of the bordering countries are full, and we deeply listen to the Ukrainian and Russian citizens' stories as we connect with them. Sometimes we have to just accept that we won’t always know the truth, but act from a place of universal kindness anyway.
The most surprising experience was witnessing remote emergency surgeries for officers at one of the military hospitals in Ukraine. That will be etched in our hearts forever, along with so many other heartbreaking and heartwarming experiences.
Just like with funerals so much help is available early in the experience vs. 3 months down the road when the loved ones left behind still need our support. We noticed a strong desire to help early in the war that tapered off a little, but imagine a family who went through a high risk evacuation process, got torn apart from their family, friends, and homes, and are now displaced in a strange country where they don't speak the language, with no jobs, and not a lot of money. They’re going to need our support for a long time into the future especially the time it will take to rebuild their cities and villages.
How You Can Help:
Any amount of donations is sincerely appreciated. We are fully tapped out on our own personal resources. The money will go towards many different needs including the list below, and some future unknowns as the mission continues…we're supporting anyone who genuinely needs the help.
Help with funding for the babies who have been left behind. Our team of doctors know of 125 children at the moment and there are many more who are currently abandoned. They have expert resources on the ground for evacuations which are very costly. All the money we funnel through them to Ukraine gets to the right needs immediately as we have seen all the thank you notes we get on a weekly basis.
Help with the surrogate mothers getting to safety and securing accommodations. This takes immense coordination. We have been able to get several mothers to safety in neighboring countries in Poland, however, the birth certificate, embassy, passport process is extremely complicated and expensive. Border patrol is another added challenge, but we know all the detailed logistics of how to handle. You can't do it alone.
Accommodations for a year for this family of 25 Ukrainians. There are 10 children, mostly under the age of four years old, a grandmother and grandfather, and the rest are mothers.
Furniture for the 25 person house. In order to find a home that could fit everyone we had to take one that was unfurnished and furnish it from scratch for them. This was no easy feat which we also funded.
Help with funding for food, babysitting, salaries, medical supplies etc. for this family of now single parents. Funds to send back to Ukrainian family members left behind who didn’t have the financial or family means to even leave, who need medical supplies, food, and money to survive too.
More Ukrainians continue to evacuate as well. 11M are currently displaced from their original homes, including ½ of Ukrainian children.
Help with the successful diversification and delivery of the embryos through certified couriers to many different countries. (Transport of these large cryo tanks involves a lot of paperwork and precision, and the embryologists have been voluntarily driving them as far away as a 10 hr drive to the Netherlands to safety)
Helping voluntary doctors research and find new clinics, establish new contracts, communications to intended parents, matching of new surrogates in new countries, etc. (this will take a couple of years to accomplish)
Rescuing additional embryos/genetic material from Ukraine (estimated hundreds of thousands have been left behind).
Broader Mission:
To bring more awareness to all forms of the challenges surrounding infertility in the workplace, so benefits can be more customized to what is actually needed. 23 million pregnancies worldwide end in miscarriage every year, and often employees and their families suffer alone and in silence, which can be reformed.
To partner with legal entities to help make surrogacy legal in more countries around the world with improved legislature and laws. The black market around surrogacy is unregulated, and the pandemic and war have now heightened this fact. Global legalization with the right policies and accountability in place would help protect our mothers and children. Supporting the International Social Services Organization is a great group we're starting with who recognize the same needs.
Changes to our economic system to be one that is more sustainable and less dividing between the rich and the poor. We never thought we would live through a pandemic or a war, and our economic system is under pressure like never before. We have the solutions to create a more sustainable model, however, we need strong leaders to break the mold and implement them. More on this topic to come.
Thank you for your consideration and support in this mission for peace.
Much Love, Michelle and Scott
The ecosystem of impact from a war is far beyond what the eye can see. Caring for pregnant mothers was critical, and just one of the many important humanitarian needs for Ukrainians. Ukraine is one of the most robust and legalized countries in the world for surrogacy which also feeds part of their economy. This form of income for many families and their economy instantly went away.
When Intended Parents (IPs) around the world reach the point of surrogacy it typically means they have tried everything else - some IPs in our surrogacy groups have been trying to conceive for 20 years, and the financial, emotional, relational, and medical toll this has taken on them is immense. To be accepted into legal surrogacy, you have to prove that you have tried everything else before moving forward with this option. They need our help too.
Despite the darkness and tragedy we have seen, LOVE triumphs over fear and hate. The gestures small and large from humankind that we have witnessed since the war began has blown our mind, and we are deeply grateful for all of the angels who have shown up, and offered care and support along the way. Please don't stop. They will need support for years to come to rebuild their beautiful country.
Many Ukrainians are very patriotic. Our surrogate did not want to leave Ukraine, and that is her sovereign choice. She also could not bear leaving without her mother and sister who are still in a war torn area surrounded by Russian military, spending the majority of their time in a bomb shelter. We are in contact with her every day to offer comfort and financial assistance.
Russian citizens are innocent in this too, and unfortunately have also been impacted by power that is out of their control, and discriminated against in unimaginable ways. We are ALL one human race that deserves our compassion.
This is not just a war between Russia and Ukraine, it is layers and layers of global trauma that needs to be healed for all of us. All of the bordering countries are full, and we deeply listen to the Ukrainian and Russian citizens' stories as we connect with them. Sometimes we have to just accept that we won’t always know the truth, but act from a place of universal kindness anyway.
The most surprising experience was witnessing remote emergency surgeries for officers at one of the military hospitals in Ukraine. That will be etched in our hearts forever, along with so many other heartbreaking and heartwarming experiences.
Just like with funerals so much help is available early in the experience vs. 3 months down the road when the loved ones left behind still need our support. We noticed a strong desire to help early in the war that tapered off a little, but imagine a family who went through a high risk evacuation process, got torn apart from their family, friends, and homes, and are now displaced in a strange country where they don't speak the language, with no jobs, and not a lot of money. They’re going to need our support for a long time into the future especially the time it will take to rebuild their cities and villages.
How You Can Help:
Any amount of donations is sincerely appreciated. We are fully tapped out on our own personal resources. The money will go towards many different needs including the list below, and some future unknowns as the mission continues…we're supporting anyone who genuinely needs the help.
Help with funding for the babies who have been left behind. Our team of doctors know of 125 children at the moment and there are many more who are currently abandoned. They have expert resources on the ground for evacuations which are very costly. All the money we funnel through them to Ukraine gets to the right needs immediately as we have seen all the thank you notes we get on a weekly basis.
Help with the surrogate mothers getting to safety and securing accommodations. This takes immense coordination. We have been able to get several mothers to safety in neighboring countries in Poland, however, the birth certificate, embassy, passport process is extremely complicated and expensive. Border patrol is another added challenge, but we know all the detailed logistics of how to handle. You can't do it alone.
Accommodations for a year for this family of 25 Ukrainians. There are 10 children, mostly under the age of four years old, a grandmother and grandfather, and the rest are mothers.
Furniture for the 25 person house. In order to find a home that could fit everyone we had to take one that was unfurnished and furnish it from scratch for them. This was no easy feat which we also funded.
Help with funding for food, babysitting, salaries, medical supplies etc. for this family of now single parents. Funds to send back to Ukrainian family members left behind who didn’t have the financial or family means to even leave, who need medical supplies, food, and money to survive too.
More Ukrainians continue to evacuate as well. 11M are currently displaced from their original homes, including ½ of Ukrainian children.
Help with the successful diversification and delivery of the embryos through certified couriers to many different countries. (Transport of these large cryo tanks involves a lot of paperwork and precision, and the embryologists have been voluntarily driving them as far away as a 10 hr drive to the Netherlands to safety)
Helping voluntary doctors research and find new clinics, establish new contracts, communications to intended parents, matching of new surrogates in new countries, etc. (this will take a couple of years to accomplish)
Rescuing additional embryos/genetic material from Ukraine (estimated hundreds of thousands have been left behind).
Broader Mission:
To bring more awareness to all forms of the challenges surrounding infertility in the workplace, so benefits can be more customized to what is actually needed. 23 million pregnancies worldwide end in miscarriage every year, and often employees and their families suffer alone and in silence, which can be reformed.
To partner with legal entities to help make surrogacy legal in more countries around the world with improved legislature and laws. The black market around surrogacy is unregulated, and the pandemic and war have now heightened this fact. Global legalization with the right policies and accountability in place would help protect our mothers and children. Supporting the International Social Services Organization is a great group we're starting with who recognize the same needs.
Changes to our economic system to be one that is more sustainable and less dividing between the rich and the poor. We never thought we would live through a pandemic or a war, and our economic system is under pressure like never before. We have the solutions to create a more sustainable model, however, we need strong leaders to break the mold and implement them. More on this topic to come.
Thank you for your consideration and support in this mission for peace.
Much Love, Michelle and Scott
