Shaun & Michele's Baby Making Fund

Shaun & Michele's Baby Making Fund

From R. Shaun Brodie

Shaun and Michele are raising money to help them have a baby! We are currently raising money for an IVF cycle with donor eggs which will begin in just a few short months!

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Update #1

almost 10 years ago

I am completely blown away and humbled by the support that Shaun and I have had so far to help us raise money to start our family. For as long as I can remember, becoming a mother has been my ultimate dream. I never cared about having a big fancy house, expensive cars or traveling the world. I always wanted to be a stay at home mom to my wonderful children. This dream was shattered when Shaun and I found out that having babies “the old fashioned way” was not going to work.

I started to hide myself from the world after getting this news. I have avoided family functions, parties with friends and life altogether.

Shaun and I have struggled to come to terms with what we are up against. Living in the bay area as most of you know is darn right EXPENSIVE and we have been unable to save enough money to get us to our dream of becoming parents.

I don’t tell you these things to make you feel sorry for us. I would just like to help others understand how debilitating infertility is. Many people in my life don’t know what to say or do to help us. Unless someone has been down this road, they have no clue the emotions that go into it. With the best intention we have been told to “Just adopt, then you’ll get pregnant”, “You need to relax, then you’ll get pregnant”, “Stop wanting it so bad”…

Infertility affects 7.3 million people in the U.S. This figure represents 12% of women of childbearing age, or 1 in 8 couples. (2002 National Survey of Family Growth). There are medical reasons why couples have fertility problems, and sadly, no amount of ignoring the issue or moving on will miraculously grant me and Shaun a child. Without these treatments, people like me and my husband would not be able to have children of our own.

This is why your likes, comments, shares, and donations mean so much to us! The more these posts are seen by your friends and family, the more likely we are to find the next person to donate, helping us to reach our goal.

Thanks to you, and the generosity of our friends and family, we have managed to raise 63% of the expected costs of our fertility treatments. That’s $12,670! But here’s what really gets me…

We’ve raised that with only 19 donors, 39 shares, and 2 Tweets! My husband tells me these numbers aren’t that great, but I’m blown away! You guys must REALLY like us! Otherwise, we would be nowhere near the amount raised that we are. So thank you so much!

With the amount of money we’ve raised, we can now proceed with the treatment, and we’re incredibly excited! We’ve recently finished up the last preparation stage, and I’m getting ready to start injections on Tuesday this week. Which means, that with a little bit of luck, we’ll be posting soon to tell you just how successful the treatment was, and what your donations have done for us. One thing we do know, is that your help in this has helped to restore a little bit of faith for me, and maybe, just maybe, our dream of starting a family can come true!

Of course, we’re not one hundred percent there yet. So please, like us on Facebook, Share this post, Tweet our campaign, and if you’ve got a little bit of extra money, your donation would still mean the world to me and Shaun.

Thanks you SO MUCH!

Michele

More Info

My wife Michele and I were married on May 9th, 2009. Not too long after that, we decided we would start working on making a baby. Having a child was a lifelong dream of Michele’s, and is something I’d love to experience myself as well.

We tried for several months to no avail. After about 6 months of no luck, my wife grew concerned, and made an appointment with her OB/GYN. The OB/GYN said that the best thing to do would be to try IUI, or Intra-Uterine Insemination. Apparently, this is how you check to see if it’s the man’s fault. However, after six months of treatments we were still not pregnant, and it became time to go and see a fertility specialist.

We had blood-work ran, ultra-sounds taken, and more tests than you think might really be needed ran, and finally were given a basic diagnosis. Not only were my little swimmers not Olympic athletes (Ok, maybe special Olympic athletes), but Michele had a low egg count, and was likely not regularly ovulating eggs. The doctors told us that the only way we could have a child would be through IVF, or in-vitro fertilization.

We were heartbroken. IVF is a rather expensive procedure, it would cost us nearly $11,000 to go through with the procedure, not counting the medications that Michele would need to be on. We talked about this for a long while, and, eventually, decided to go through with it. The doctors stimulated my wife ovaries enough to produce seven eggs. Of those seven, they were able to fertilize one, which was implanted the next day.  

Two weeks later we went in for a pregnancy test, and did not get the result we were looking for.

That was two years ago. In that time my wife and I have cried, fought, sacrificed, and done almost everything we can to raise money for a second attempt, this time using donor eggs. Well, everything but crowd funding, which we’re now looking to use as well.

This isn’t entirely a sob story though. We’re blessed with incredible friends and family. Michele’s mother allowed us to stay with her for a year so we could save up more money, and we’ve had marvelous friends offer to donate their eggs to us, one of which is a viable donor.

However, this is still a very expensive procedure. We’ve saved up $10,000, and our total cost is expected to be around $25,000. Needless to say, there are always other unexpected life expenses as well, and this will currently put us much further in debt than we would like to be. So, we’re asking our friends, family, and the internet, for help.

If you decide to donate anything, be it $5, $10, more, or even just some helpful prayer or good thoughts, we greatly appreciate it. We’d also greatly appreciate it if you could share this with your friends and family as well, just in case they would also be interested in donating. Your donation will go towards help my wife and I achieve our dream of parenthood, and, we will be eternally grateful for your assistance in achieving that goal. Of course, if you have any questions about this, why we're doing this, or even just want to say hello, please feel free to use the contact button up top, and we'll get in touch with you as soon as we can.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Shaun and Michele Brodie

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R. Shaun Brodie posted a new update:
almost 10 years ago

Shaun and Michele's Baby Making Update!

I am completely blown away and humbled by the support that Shaun and I have had so far to help us raise money to start our family. For as long as I can remember, becoming a mother has been my ultimate dream. I never cared about having a big fancy house, expensive cars or traveling the world. I always wanted to be a stay at home mom to my wonderful children. This dream was shattered when Shaun and I found out that having babies “the old fashioned way” was not going to work.

I started to hide myself from the world after getting this news. I have avoided family functions, parties with friends and life altogether.

Shaun and I have struggled to come to terms with what we are up against. Living in the bay area as most of you know is darn right EXPENSIVE and we have been unable to save enough money to get us to our dream of becoming parents.

I don’t tell you these things to make you feel sorry for us. I would just like to help others understand how debilitating infertility is. Many people in my life don’t know what to say or do to help us. Unless someone has been down this road, they have no clue the emotions that go into it. With the best intention we have been told to “Just adopt, then you’ll get pregnant”, “You need to relax, then you’ll get pregnant”, “Stop wanting it so bad”…

Infertility affects 7.3 million people in the U.S. This figure represents 12% of women of childbearing age, or 1 in 8 couples. (2002 National Survey of Family Growth). There are medical reasons why couples have fertility problems, and sadly, no amount of ignoring the issue or moving on will miraculously grant me and Shaun a child. Without these treatments, people like me and my husband would not be able to have children of our own.

This is why your likes, comments, shares, and donations mean so much to us! The more these posts are seen by your friends and family, the more likely we are to find the next person to donate, helping us to reach our goal.

Thanks to you, and the generosity of our friends and family, we have managed to raise 63% of the expected costs of our fertility treatments. That’s $12,670! But here’s what really gets me…

We’ve raised that with only 19 donors, 39 shares, and 2 Tweets! My husband tells me these numbers aren’t that great, but I’m blown away! You guys must REALLY like us! Otherwise, we would be nowhere near the amount raised that we are. So thank you so much!

With the amount of money we’ve raised, we can now proceed with the treatment, and we’re incredibly excited! We’ve recently finished up the last preparation stage, and I’m getting ready to start injections on Tuesday this week. Which means, that with a little bit of luck, we’ll be posting soon to tell you just how successful the treatment was, and what your donations have done for us. One thing we do know, is that your help in this has helped to restore a little bit of faith for me, and maybe, just maybe, our dream of starting a family can come true!

Of course, we’re not one hundred percent there yet. So please, like us on Facebook, Share this post, Tweet our campaign, and if you’ve got a little bit of extra money, your donation would still mean the world to me and Shaun.

Thanks you SO MUCH!

Michele

Natalie Murphy commented on a blog post:
almost 10 years ago
Bless you both, I hope things turn out as they should!

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