Our journey began in an unexpected way bringing us together in Hawaii. Me and my wife have been trying to conceive for the past four years without any success. We both grew up with good core family values taught to us in our early childhood by our parents and religion. I was born and raised in Northern Georgia (USA) and my wife was born and raised in Japan with the spirit of Shinto (Japan's indigenous ethnic religion dating back to 300 BCE - 300 CE). This instilled into my wife a reverence for the Gods of nature, gratitude for even the smallest things in life and respect for others. She respects the American culture and is proud to be able to learn so much from its history, beliefs and society.

For the past four years, we have been overwhelmed with anxiety of not being able to get pregnant. This has been a very sensitive and emotional issue for my wife to discuss with anyone. As time has passed, we both have felt the burdened with this emotional rollercoaster of not conceiving. We finally decided to see our family doctor and was given a medical referral to a fertility clinic. During this time, we both have had many days that were emotionally strenuous. After seeing a fertility doctor and going over the infertility treatment plan options, we later were informed our health insurance did not cover any of our fertility treatment costs. This added to our frustration, making us feel more overwhelmed in facing an insurmountable wall to overcome. Despite these challenges, we have encouraged each other to enjoy our daily lives and be grateful for what we have.

In 2024, my wife had an annual OBGYN exam and was discovered she had a uterine polyp. At this time, we were informed this could be a reason why she was not getting pregnant. Afterwards, our doctor recommended for me to have a semen analysis test to determine if there was a sperm issue while my wife was being examined to rule out any other fertility issues. I had two different sperm tests conducted that we had to pay out of pocket totaling more than $500.00. Both results were negative showing no sperm and revealed I had a sperm duct obstruction. The next steps in our fertility treatment process were for me to see a fertility urologist and for my wife to discuss fertility treatment plan options with her fertility doctor.

Now, our treatment plans forward is for me to have a Testicular Sperm Extraction (TESE) / Percutaneous Epididymal Sperm Aspiration (PESA) and for my wife to have multiple IVF procedures. Together both of our fertility procedures will cost more than $42,000.00. This cost does not include my wife's hormone medication/injections that cost over $5000.00. Our next plan of action was applying to non-profit grants and a medical loan company associated with our fertility clinic. After applying for financial assistance, we were not approved for any funds to help us pay for the expensive fertility treatments we both need. As you can imagine, being denied financial assistance to help us with our fertility treatments, made our goal to have a family more difficult.

We have imagined countless times what it would be like to have a

baby and grow as a family. My wife’s parents are elderly (still living in Japan) and the thought of not being able to show them a grandchild fills me with sadness. We both want our parents to experience the joy of having grandchildren.

Thank you for reading to the end. We are grateful to God for this opportunity and all that are willing to support our journey to parenthood. The support we receive from everyone in the church, local communities and other individuals is a great source of encouragement and hope for us. We express our heartfelt gratitude to all those who have made a difference in our lives and everyone who supports and encourages us through our challenges.