Mazzuca IVF Fund | Help Us Start Our Family
Donation protected
Hello!
Our names are Marissa and Garrett Mazzuca. We’re a 28 and 29-year-old couple who are madly in love and have been trying to start our family for over four years now.
When we first met back in 2008, things were already tough as we faced the trials and tribulations of a long-distance relationship (him being in Texas and me being in California), but we were happy nonetheless. We would skype every night, and I would fly to visit him often.
BEING DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER
Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse in the spring of 2009 when Garrett (at age 19) was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer. Because of this, he needed to undergo a surgery called Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection, or RPLND. This left him with a condition called
Retrograde Ejaculation which causes the sperm to go backwards into the bladder instead of exiting the body. It was a heartbreaking diagnosis and makes it absolutely impossible to conceive on our own.
After a year and a half of chemotherapy, surgeries, and hospital visits we got the news that he officially beat cancer! We were thrilled that the nightmare was over! Little did we know it would come back to haunt us later on.
Read More About Our Infertility Story On My Blog
STARTING OUR LIFE TOGETHER
In 2010, I was able to move to Dallas to be with him, so we could start our lives together. We got engaged in 2012 and married in 2014! We adopted our adorable Corgi in 2012 to “start our family” then. We love our little fur baby! Once the wedding bells chimed, we wanted to start our “human family.” Unfortunately, our infertility diagnosis got in the way and we’ve had a very hard time coping with it.
MORE ABOUT US
Garrett graduated from Texas A&M with a Bachelor’s of Science in December 2015. He is currently working in customer service management for a home décor wholesaler in Dallas, TX. I am fortunate enough to own my very own graphic design business and work from home. I graduated high school early and am self-taught in graphic design, web design, art/illustration, HTML, social media marketing, and I love to learn new hobbies.
In our spare time, Garrett loves to write and work on his short stories. He is currently working on a novel which he hopes to publish eventually. As for me, I love to DIY and craft, market for my business, paint, play with our dogs, and binge watch Netflix shows. Together, we love to play video games and watch movies. We’re not party animals by any means, and we don’t drink or smoke, but we do love spending time with friends and family. Whether that means going out to eat, going to the movies, or having family game nights, we always try to enjoy our time together. We’re just missing our little “mini” to join us on our life’s adventure.
FAILED FERTILITY TREATMENTS
In 2018, we tried Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). Unfortunately, it had failed and we didn't get pregnant. We used some of our frozen specimen from 2009 before he had started chemotherapy. I wrote more about our experience on my blog, So Very Me .
MALPRACTICE / MISINFORMATION
After our IUI, we learned our sperm count was DRAMATICALLY lower than what the Cryobank had reported. So now we're in a lengthy process of filing a claim against the company who messed up the report. We wasted 3 of the 5 vials we have of sperm. Essentially, because of this mess up, we wasted our sperm and $2,000 for the IUI procedure...
MOVING FORWARD WITH IVF
Our only hope to start a family now is IVF. Insurance has zero coverage for this procedure and it comes with a hefty price tag of $16,500. We're heartbroken and just want to start our family more than anything.
We've been trying to have a baby for 4 years now with no success.
IVF is expensive due to the nature of the procedure. I would have to take abdominal injections for two weeks to stimulate the ovaries to produce more than one egg, and then be put under anesthesia to retrieve said eggs. They will then take the sperm from our vials and inject them directly into each egg, where they will be monitored for 3-5 days. After 5 days, we will have the set number of embryos that survived and are ready for transfer.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
By donating to our fund, you are helping us get closer to starting our family. Any and all contributions would mean the absolute world to us and our future family. We've tried every avenue we could without success...
DOCUMENTING OUR JOURNEY ON YOUTUBE
If we reach our goal, we will be vlogging our entire experience on YouTube - so you will be with us on your journey every step of the way!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story. I will be blogging and making videos about it as time goes on.
Our names are Marissa and Garrett Mazzuca. We’re a 28 and 29-year-old couple who are madly in love and have been trying to start our family for over four years now.
When we first met back in 2008, things were already tough as we faced the trials and tribulations of a long-distance relationship (him being in Texas and me being in California), but we were happy nonetheless. We would skype every night, and I would fly to visit him often.
BEING DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER
Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse in the spring of 2009 when Garrett (at age 19) was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer. Because of this, he needed to undergo a surgery called Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection, or RPLND. This left him with a condition called
Retrograde Ejaculation which causes the sperm to go backwards into the bladder instead of exiting the body. It was a heartbreaking diagnosis and makes it absolutely impossible to conceive on our own.
After a year and a half of chemotherapy, surgeries, and hospital visits we got the news that he officially beat cancer! We were thrilled that the nightmare was over! Little did we know it would come back to haunt us later on.
Read More About Our Infertility Story On My Blog
STARTING OUR LIFE TOGETHER
In 2010, I was able to move to Dallas to be with him, so we could start our lives together. We got engaged in 2012 and married in 2014! We adopted our adorable Corgi in 2012 to “start our family” then. We love our little fur baby! Once the wedding bells chimed, we wanted to start our “human family.” Unfortunately, our infertility diagnosis got in the way and we’ve had a very hard time coping with it.
MORE ABOUT US
Garrett graduated from Texas A&M with a Bachelor’s of Science in December 2015. He is currently working in customer service management for a home décor wholesaler in Dallas, TX. I am fortunate enough to own my very own graphic design business and work from home. I graduated high school early and am self-taught in graphic design, web design, art/illustration, HTML, social media marketing, and I love to learn new hobbies.
In our spare time, Garrett loves to write and work on his short stories. He is currently working on a novel which he hopes to publish eventually. As for me, I love to DIY and craft, market for my business, paint, play with our dogs, and binge watch Netflix shows. Together, we love to play video games and watch movies. We’re not party animals by any means, and we don’t drink or smoke, but we do love spending time with friends and family. Whether that means going out to eat, going to the movies, or having family game nights, we always try to enjoy our time together. We’re just missing our little “mini” to join us on our life’s adventure.
FAILED FERTILITY TREATMENTS
In 2018, we tried Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). Unfortunately, it had failed and we didn't get pregnant. We used some of our frozen specimen from 2009 before he had started chemotherapy. I wrote more about our experience on my blog, So Very Me .
MALPRACTICE / MISINFORMATION
After our IUI, we learned our sperm count was DRAMATICALLY lower than what the Cryobank had reported. So now we're in a lengthy process of filing a claim against the company who messed up the report. We wasted 3 of the 5 vials we have of sperm. Essentially, because of this mess up, we wasted our sperm and $2,000 for the IUI procedure...
MOVING FORWARD WITH IVF
Our only hope to start a family now is IVF. Insurance has zero coverage for this procedure and it comes with a hefty price tag of $16,500. We're heartbroken and just want to start our family more than anything.
We've been trying to have a baby for 4 years now with no success.
IVF is expensive due to the nature of the procedure. I would have to take abdominal injections for two weeks to stimulate the ovaries to produce more than one egg, and then be put under anesthesia to retrieve said eggs. They will then take the sperm from our vials and inject them directly into each egg, where they will be monitored for 3-5 days. After 5 days, we will have the set number of embryos that survived and are ready for transfer.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
By donating to our fund, you are helping us get closer to starting our family. Any and all contributions would mean the absolute world to us and our future family. We've tried every avenue we could without success...
DOCUMENTING OUR JOURNEY ON YOUTUBE
If we reach our goal, we will be vlogging our entire experience on YouTube - so you will be with us on your journey every step of the way!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story. I will be blogging and making videos about it as time goes on.
Organizer
Marissa Mazzuca
Organizer
Rockwall, TX
