Jayme Hadley, winner of RHS’s IVF giveaway, talks about her and her husband Dave’s fertility journey and the hope they have for a child of their own.

After our first year of marriage, Dave and I began actively trying to start our family.  We tried unsuccessfully for about a year and a half.  Deep down, I knew something was wrong, but was scared to death to find out there was something wrong with one of us.  At an annual gynecologist appointment (about 2 1/2 years ago), I mentioned our struggles, and my doctor immediately started the testing process on both Dave and myself.  A few months into the testing process, Dave’s sperm analysis came back with a count of zero.  After several repeat tests, Dave was diagnosed with azoospermia. It was a devastating time for both of us!

We were directed to a urologist.  He performed a biopsy where we learned that Dave did produce sperm.  At that realization, they performed surgery and found his reproductive system had scar tissue built up and his vas deferens was severed. We later learned that this, most likely, happened during a surgery he had as an infant.  During the surgery, they were able to reconnect one side but the other side was too badly damaged to fix.  He gave us a 40% chance that the surgery would be successful in allowing the sperm to move through his system.  We were asked to wait a full 9 months to see results.  Unfortunately, all tests during and after that time have come back with the same results as our first analysis. 

During our visit with RHS, we learned more about our options of IVF with ICSI and IUI with donor sperm.  We both really wanted to try IVF, but didn’t ever know if we’d be able to afford the procedure.  Since then we’ve done a lot of thinking, saving, and praying and have gone through just about every emotion imaginable.  When I received the phone call from RHS letting me know we had won the scholarship, I was overjoyed.  After such a long struggle with infertility, the idea of having children of our own seemed more and more impossible. This is the first time in a really long time that we’ve had any hope that our dream of having a family would become a reality. 

We are SO grateful to RHS and all those involved in putting this scholarship together. We feel extra blessed to be given this opportunity!