Posts tagged Infertility
Episode 139: Embryo Art – Roxy Jenkins

A year after getting married, Roxy Jenkins and her husband decided to grow their family. Little did they know, the next five years would be a bumpy, winding path navigating infertility. It took seven medicated cycles, two IUIs, three retrievals and fresh transfers, and one twin miscarriage until their little Coco finally made her way into the world. 

The quest for a sibling has proven to be as difficult. For the past two and a half years, they have endured two retrievals, three miscarriages, one ectopic pregnancy, uterine testing, both tubes being removed, a Lupron Depot flare, and three back-to-back cycles being cancelled. Add to that a exploratory laparotomy with a resulting endo diagnosis. They have one tested embryo left on ice and that’s where their story pauses for now.

Inspired by her own family’s story and her love of art, Roxy decided to give color to a dark and painful journey. Each painting she does makes her feel less alone while navigating infertility. Every story shared of how each embryo came into existence is as unique as the embryo itself. All paths to parenthood are valid and worthy of sharing. Roxy feels honored that so many have entrusted the sweetest, most special part of their journey to her.

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Episode 133: Male-Factor Infertility & Mental Health – Steven Miller

Steven J. Miller obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology at Northern Michigan University and is currently in the part-time MSW program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He’s been in social work since 2009, working with youth and families. Steven is an advocate for more discussion among social workers and other helping professionals about the impact of infertility on one’s mental health. Steven and his wife struggled with infertility for seven years before being successful using IVF, resulting in now three-year-old twin boys. After his MSW, Steven plans to work in Reproductive Mental Health and continue advocacy for discussion about this topic in the classroom to help better prepare students and clinicians to support those coming to them for support.

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Episode 131: Faith, Cancer, and Surrogacy – Paige McCoy

Paige is a cancer survivor turned cancer advocate and mother to an energetic two-year-old son. Married in 2012, she never anticipated having to overcome a variety of obstacles to have a family. When unexplained infertility forced her to undergo multiple rounds of IVF, she never wavered. When leukemia unexpectedly struck three weeks before an embryo transfer, she kept her eye on recovering so she could one day pursue parenthood. And when the cancer treatments eliminated her ability to carry a child, she matched with a selfless surrogate to carry the embryo she dreamed about for years.

Today, Paige dedicates her life to helping other young adult cancer patients fight their diagnoses, knowing that a caring support system and documented bucket list are as strong as any medicine. In her spare time, she and her family alternate completing her personal bucket list created in the hospital with typical two-year-old activities like digging in dirt and memorizing construction vehicles. She lives in Denver with her husband, Jeff, and son, Bradley, whom she named after the bone marrow donor that gave her a second chance at life, and given the opportunity, she would love to grow their family by one more through another surrogacy journey.

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Episode 125: I’m Very Ferris – Tess Kossow

Entrepreneurship has always been Tess Kossow’s dream profession. And after having her miracle baby boy, Ferris, she realized this was a now-or-never moment to jump in and become an author with a product the world needs. Ferris was her last embryo and the answered prayer of faith, love, and science through IVF. Reading holds a very special place in Tess’s heart, and this next stage of her career has her creating something she is so very passionate about in the lives of children through her picture books: in vitro fertilization.

 

In November 2019, Tess was a finisher in the New York City Marathon. In October 2020, she survived sudden cardiac arrest and was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. Still through it all, she loved to host parties and celebrate life, no matter the occasion! She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree from Elmhurst College, which is also where she met her best friend and husband, Dan. She has a Havanese named Gatsby and a Siamese cat named James Bond. (Both of which are Ferris’ partners in crime).

 

Tess is a mother, first and foremost, and everything else comes second. She believes you really can have and achieve anything you want…but you are going to have to work for it and expect nothing to be handed to you. Her husband often calls her his real-life Steve Jobs, because of how she lives her life and leads by example for her son to believe in the following: “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Ferris is her inspiration, and her husband, Dan, is the motivation that keeps her running the extra mile in all she does.

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Episode 122: Navigating The Aftermath Of An IVF Mix-Up – Donna and Vanner Johnson and Devin and Kelly McNeil

Vanner and Donna Johnson are a married couple, parents of two children, living in Utah. Vanner is a licensed attorney with a strong technology background, currently working in the financial industry in client success. Donna is an elementary educator.

Kelly And Devin McNeil are a married couple who are 3 time IVF patients, with 2 failed cycles, then a successful pregnancy resulting in their now 13 year old son. They reside in Colorado. 

These two couples met because of an inexplicable IVF mix-up, forever connecting the two families. Together they are working to support their children and navigate the best path forward.

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Episode 119: 800+ Siblings – Laura Doe

Like many hopeful parents-to-be, Laura and her wife turned to sperm donation for assistance forming their family. Finding the right donor was difficult, especially given the strict Australian requirements preventing donors from donating sperm to more than a handful of families. After giving birth to her son, Laura was shocked to discover that they had not received accurate information on how often their chosen donor had previously donated. In fact, their sperm donor was a “serial donor” with over 800+ children!

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Episode 113: Best Shot - Abby Mercado

Abby Mercado is the Co-Founder & CEO of Best Shot, a patient’s companion in fertility treatments. A former venture capital investor, Abby conceptualized Best Shot after her frustrations with IVF medications and the mental health challenges she faced after her infertility diagnosis. Now, on the other side of her fertility experience, Abby is passionate about providing those who struggle to grow their families with the tools to help them succeed with confidence and grace.

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Episode 109: - Swimming Aimlessly – Jon Waldman

Jon Waldman is a multi-time published author, journalist, marketing and communications professional and photographer. From an early age, Jon knew that he wanted to enter the world of the written word and has scribed articles for the likes of the Toronto Sun, Winnipeg Free Press, The Hockey News, Winnipeg Men Magazine, CBS Sports and several others over his near 20-year career.

In 2009, Jon published his first book, SLAM! Wrestling: Shocking Stories from the Squared Circle with Greg Oliver. This was quickly followed in 2011 by Got'em, Got'em, Need'em. In early 2015 his third book, He Shoots He Saves, was released, his third with ECW Press.

Jon's fourth book, "100 Things Jets Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die" released in 2015 with Triumph Books and has been his best seller thus far.

In 2021, Jon's fifth book, "Swimming Aimlessly", will release with Simon and Schuster's imprint, Tiller Press. Inspired by his TEDx Talk, the book takes a deep look at men and infertility and, in part, tells the story his family has experienced.

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Episode 107: The Professor Is In - Jody Madeira

Jody Madeira is a professor of law and co-director of the Center for Law, Society & Culture at the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University. Her scholarly interests involve empirical research; the role of emotion in law; the sociology of law; law, medicine, and bioethics; and the Second Amendment. Her most recent book, Taking Baby Steps: How Patients and Fertility Clinics Collaborate in Conception (University of California Press, 2018), takes readers inside the infertility experience, from dealing with infertility-related emotions to forming treatment relationships with medical professionals, confronting difficult decisions, and negotiating informed consent. Based on a wealth of qualitative and quantitative data (130 patient interviews, 83 interviews with reproductive medical professionals, and 267 patient surveys), Madeira investigates how women, men, and their care providers can utilize trust to collaboratively negotiate infertility’s personal, physical, spiritual, ethical, medical, and legal minefields.

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Episode 92: Infertility in Israel Births an American Non-Profit - Elana Frank

Elana (Bekerman) Frank, a native of Atlanta, GA, lived, studied, and worked in Maryland, Manhattan, Israel, and New Jersey. She has 20 years of experience working with non-profits (in America and in Israel) in fundraising, marketing, community outreach, volunteer recruitment, Board development and program development.

Elana Frank "birthed" The Jewish Fertility Foundation. It took her ten years and countless rounds of IUI and IVF cycles and embryo donation to make three babies. Because she was a resident of Israel at that time of her first two children, their socialized medicine afforded her the opportunity to inexpensively reach a solution. When she returned to the US, she realized that others weren’t as lucky as her - in terms of treatment success, community support, and financial aid. She learned for others it takes years, miscarriages, unbearable debt, oceans of tears, and heartache before finally giving birth, if at all. And with the cost of IVF ranging on average from $14,000 - $25,000 in America, many don’t even have a chance for a chance. Knowing that there was this grave need for funding, support, and enhanced awareness of this sometimes “unspoken” issue in the Jewish community, she decided to create Jewish Fertility Foundation.

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Episode 90: 16 and Pregnant; 30 and Infertile - Erin Kiernan

Erin Kiernan is a news anchor and journalist for WHO 13 News in Des Moines, Iowa. Erin is the recipient of several regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for her reporting work. Erin earned a National Edward R. Murrow Award in 2012 with photojournalists Brandon McCauley and Randy Schumacher for a story about Iowan Mark Block overcoming impossible odds to climb Sears Tower in Chicago. Erin has also received regional Emmy Awards in the feature, consumer, and instructional categories.

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Episode 89: The Broken Brown Egg - Regina Townsend

Regina Townsend is the founder of The Broken Brown Egg, an awareness and service organization founded in the summer of 2009 to increase awareness of African American Infertility and Reproductive Health. As a black woman, Regina found a very quiet life in infertility. She believed that should change, so that no one else will have to feel like the lone wolf of their family. Infertility is lonely enough without feeling like a minority inside of a minority.

Regina’s infertility was due to PCOS, Hypothyroidism, blocked fallopian tubes, and Type 2 diabetes. She and her husband dabbled with pill abuse (Clomid), lied to all their family members, “NO, we are NOT nearly ready for children!”, and took a painful trip into parenting purgatory (Foster Care/Kinship Placement). In 2015, they were blessed with the opportunity to try IVF, and had their son in 2016. Librarian by profession and writer by passion, Regina considers writing and reading to be one of the most personal forms of communication, entertainment and education.

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Episode 84: UpRooted - Jill Wolfe and Naomi Less

Jill Wolfe and her husband struggled with unexplained infertility for 4.5 years before having their first child, Eliana, via a gestational surrogate. There were many years of sadness, failed IVFs, and finally elation with the joy of finally becoming a parent. A couple years later their daughter Mia was born via their same surrogate. Jill lives in Minneapolis with her husband, two angels and dog Jojo.  Jill has a Master’s in Education and was a bilingual Spanish teacher before having children.  Since having children, she has been working in medical sales and is currently working in Biotechnology at Shire specializing in rare disease.

Naomi Less is an internationally renowned singer, composer, musician, educator and a Founding Ritual Leader of the Lab/Shul community.  Aside from touring and leading worship for her Lab/Shul community, Naomi has a national presence as a powerful feminist in the Jewish music world - she hosts her show “Jewish Women Rock show” on Jewish Rock Radio and co-created and co-stars in “TRYmester”, a touring musical performance piece about fertility journeys. She serves as Vice President for Uprooted: A Jewish Response to Fertility Journeys. She is beloved by communities where she’s served as an artist-in-residence both for her performance and her creative spiritual  leadership and facilitation. If you want to hear Naomi’s original music,
check her out on spotify, on LabShul.org or anywhere you hear or watch music.

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Episode 82: Beware of the Home DNA Kit - Danielle Teuscher and Jill Teitel

Danielle Teuscher and her spouse struggled with infertility but were successful in conceiving a daughter through the use of donated sperm. Many years later, Danielle and her family, along with her daughter, took at home DNA tests. The results were surprising, and the chain of events that followed were even more so!

Jill Teitel has been an attorney since 1996 and in private practice since 2011. She has a varied legal background from commercial litigation, trusts and estates work, and corporate and international arbitration. Her practice centers around trusts and estates and litigation involving women’s rights and advocacy.

The case of Teuscher v. CCB-NWC, LLC is in ongoing litigation. Anything that Ms. Teuscher or Ms. Teitel stated in this podcast, recorded on February 28, 2020, should not be used for anything other than communication to the public about the Plaintiffs' plight.

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Episode 81: Father, Attorney, Advocate - Ryan Ferrante

Ryan's career as an Assisted Reproduction Technology attorney was born of a personal, four-year infertility struggle shared with his wife. This challenging experience to start his own family gives Ryan a unique perspective - one of an intended father, a party to a gestational surrogacy agreement, and an experienced attorney - to fully understand the emotional, practical, and legal issues facing patients when pursuing infertility treatments. Ryan earned his J.D. from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and Bachelor's Degree in Finance from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Ryan is a professional member of RESOLVE, the American Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the Chicago Bar Association.

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Episode 79: Surrogacy In The Time Of COVID - Robin Pope

Robin Pope is an ART Attorney in Oregon with more than 25 years of adoption and family formation law. Robin graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School in 1981, when adoptions were closed, surrogacy as a solution to female infertility was a recent development, and assisted reproductive technologies such as gestational surrogacy, egg donations, and embryo transfers were newly emerging methods for family building. After her personal experience with infertility, her law practice shifted its focus from family law to adoption and family formation law.

Robin is a member of the Oregon State Bar and a Fellow in the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys. In addition to representing adoptive parents, birth parents, surrogates, and intended parents for the past 20 years, Robin has represented the position of the Oregon State Bar on adoption and surrogacy issues.

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Episode 77: Experiencing Surrogacy - Emily Field and Melissa Fleck

Emily Field and Melissa Fleck are co-authors of “Experiencing Surrogacy.” Emily overcame a long, hard, and emotional road for her to finally become a mom with the help of Melissa, her gestational carrier. Emily is very open about her fertility journey and feels that, when you go through something difficult in life, who better than you to do something about it for others. Emily and her husband Gregg started Field Fertility in 2016, which is a legal and consulting business working with intended parents, surrogates, egg donors, sperm donors, and embryo donors.

Melissa currently spends her time as a mom to two very active kids, is a wife to a hardworking law enforcement officer, and is an active member of the surrogacy community. She has been working at the Center for Surrogate Parenting, Inc. since 2016, where she is a surrogate case manager. Having been a surrogate herself, she gets to pay it forward by interviewing and guiding potential surrogates on their surrogacy journey, working for the same agency that brought her and her intended parent and coauthor, Emily, together. Melissa also enjoys working out at her local boot camp-style gym, watching her kids play sports, attending Dodgers games, spending time with friends and extended family, and watching as many movies as she can.

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Episode 75: A 10 Year Journey to Grow Our Family - Erin Chrusciel

Erin Chrusciel and her husband Stephen spent a solid decade consumed with trying to build their family. After multiple miscarriages, dozens of failed cycles, therapists, psychiatrists, acupuncturists and herbalists she finally had to mourn the loss of using her own eggs to have a baby. With the unexpected generosity of two different egg donors, the Chrusciel’s are finally a family of four.

Erin provides support to the 1 in 8 who battle infertility by running a peer-support group in Western Massachusetts through Resolve New England.

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Episode 72: Battling Infertility One Grant At A Time - Pamela Hirsch

Pamela Hirsch is a co-founder of Baby Quest Foundation which provides financial assistance through fertility grants to those who cannot afford the high costs of procedures such as IVF, gestational surrogacy, egg and sperm donation, egg freezing, and embryo donation. Prior to establishing the non-profit charity, Pamela was one of the original franchise owners of The Princeton Review, a national test preparation company.  In 1993, she was named to INC Magazine’s Top 500 List as head of one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States.

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