IVF for combat wounded Veteran

As a young 20 year-old Paratrooper serving with the US Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade on May 3, 2005 my military career was abruptly cut short and my life was thrown into chaos. I was severely wounded during a firefight in southern Afghanistan. I was shot four times by enemy fire, with the first bullet penetrating my spinal canal. I was instantly paralyzed with a T8 complete spinal cord injury (SCI). This left me helpless and exposed to gunfire, as I lay on the ground unable to move. My squad leader and good friend, Matthew Blaskowski, ran out to drag me to safety and in the process was shot in the leg. This same volley of bullets also struck me 3 more times. I endured several surgeries in the following hours and days after being medevaced from the battlefield. I woke up while being extubated two days later in the US Army hospital at Landstuhl, Germany. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of several surgeons my spinal cord was damaged beyond repair and no surgery or procedure would be able to restore function.

It was a long journey to recovery, of which I spent five months as an inpatient learning an entirely new life. I was faced with re/learning how to use a manual wheelchair, the restroom, to cook, drive a car, transfer, even how to dress myself again. During this time, I was only concerned with rehabilitation and getting better with each passing day. Throughout this process the last thing on my mind at that time was using IVF through the Department of Defense’s benefit for active duty Service Members. 

When you have such a near-death experience it puts life into perspective and forces you to re-evaluate what your priorities really are. One of my lifelong dreams has always been to have a family, and after I was paralyzed I initially thought that dream was all but shattered. Once I began learning and understanding how to live with a SCI and everything that went with it I found those three wonderful letters: IVF. I learned that my dream did not have to remain JUST a dream. I learned that I could still become a father and I could someday have the family that I had always hoped for. However, I then learned of the federal laws regarding VA coverage for IVF; that the VA does not and will not cover costs for IVF or related fertility treatments, even though my infertility is 100% directly related to my military service and wounds received during combat. Once I learned that this is the way the VA and the federal government's laws would dictate how I could or could not have a family, it once again shattered my hope completely. 

In 2013 I met the woman who would change my life forever, Crystal. We met doing what we love, sports and fitness. She opened my eyes to the world of adaptive sports and I have not looked back. I never let my disability get in the way with these activities, and have accomplished things I would have never thought I could. Our relationship grew from friends, into best friends, and we are now engaged to be married. I finally found the woman who I want to spend the rest of my life with, who I want to be the mother of my children, yet we are seemingly at the mercy of Washington bureaucrats deciding if we should be allowed to have the family that we both long for. Now our only option for this family we both dream of is paying for the remaining costs of IVF out of pocket. 

I was raised in a close, loving family, where my parents set an amazing example for me to follow. I have to hold out hope that the financial burden will one day be overcome and I will have the opportunity to be as good of a parent to my child as they were to me. I know that together Crystal and I will be successful in anything we do in raising our child, as we support each other through everything, compliment each others weaknesses and support each others strengths.

Becoming a father and having a family of my own has been a lifelong dream, and as it stands, the cost of IVF is the only barrier keeping Crystal and I from having the family we so truly desire. With the help of donations we would be able to turn that dream into a reality. Thank you so much for considering helping Crystal and I make this our reality.