Help Us Start A Family

A New Year, A New Hope

Our hearts ache as we share our journey towards parenthood. We've been trying to grow our family from us and 2 cats to one that contains children as well; a dream that has been met with huge and unexpected challenges to us both.

Those of you who know our story will know this well by now, but for those that dont...

As soon as we were married in 2021 we started trying for a baby. We thought it would be easy, but how wrong we were. Even though medical issues are no stranger to us, whether it's us both catching TB from our cat (RIP Matty) or Kal nearly dying from the Covid vaccine, it still came as a shock when, after more than a year of trying, we weren't getting pregnant.

After many trips to the hospital, we found out Kerry had unknowingly been battling adenomyosis and severe stage 4 endometriosis, two painful conditions that have hindered her fertility. After having to wait over a year, the end result of multiple painful surgeries was the removal of her fallopian tubes, meaning we can never conceive naturally. A devastating thing to hear for any woman, let alone one actively trying for a baby.

The doctors also said there were issues with Kal's sperm, meaning for us to have our own baby we only had one option.

We turned to IVF-ICSI, a process filled with both hope and disappointment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines suggest the NHS cover 3 rounds of treatment, however in our area we only get 1, and subsequent attempts cost thousands of pounds depending on what is needed.

£10k per round in our case.

For those that don't know, IVF is a lot of trial and error. Everybody needs a slightly different approach and it takes time (and money) to figure it out.

Our 1st round failed at the first stage: medication.

The 2nd round they adjusted our medication and we got to the next stage, egg collection. Unfortunately we suffered from Empty Follicle Syndrome, which only happens in less than 1% of cases. This meant that no eggs were released to be collected.

The doctors told us that it was very unlikely to happen again and suggested we try 1 more time to get the balance of everything right.

The 3rd attempt seemed to be a success. Medication worked, eggs were collected and we had 1 viable embryo to put back into Kerry.

We thought this was finally it, we called it our little nugget, and all the pain felt like it was worth it, but heart breakingly our little nugget didn't stay and grow into the baby we so desperately wanted.

We were crushed.

Each failed cycle was a blow, sapping us of confidence and belief that we could do this.

But we took some time to grieve and we're now ready to try again.

The Drs have said we've found a drug combination that works, but the financial burden of each attempt is overwhelming.

Writing this has been hard because I know how lucky we are to have each other, the cats and the life we have together. Things could be so much worse.

We're filled with anxiety and guilt even asking for help, but also filled with gratitude for the love and support we've received, as the emotional toll of this journey is immense.

We do understand how tough times are for everybody, but any financial help you can offer brings us closer to our dream of parenthood, and we would be eternally grateful.

Thank you for reading our story.