National Infertility Awareness Week: New Nonprofit Offering Hope and Financial Support for Those Experiencing Infertility
By Sarah M., co-founder of Imagine Family
Infertility is such a scary conversation. I remember when my husband Jason and I first had to sit down and understand what a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) test was. I mean, that word isn’t even pronounceable, but what it meant was our journey to become parents might never happen. So, when we started to research and dig into what infertility could possibly mean for us, there were some pretty alarming stats. 1 in 8 couples experience the heartbreaking struggle of trying to get pregnant or sustain a pregnancy. This is our family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers that experience this loss. Because of this, we desperately wanted to find a way to help as many couples as we could on their journey to parenthood.
Jason and I started Imagine Family as a non-profit organization to be a resource of comfort, hope and financial support to the millions of couples faced with infertility. For many, the medical treatments needed to get pregnant can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. One IVF treatment alone can cost on average around $12,000 per cycle, while infertility drugs for that treatment can rack up another $6,000.
When researching to make our own decision, we met couples depleting their savings, retirement accounts and maxing out their credit cards in order to pursue parenthood. Sometimes the conversation even became a discussion on choosing adoption or treatment, as both would not be financially possible. After learning this, it was very clear the need for financial assistance to help a couple pursue treatments was missing. Inevitably, with costs this large, many couples today may not be able to pursue these options to become parents. So, we really wanted to do something to change that.
We offer up to $10,000 grants to help cover the cost of uncovered infertility treatments. This grant is for couples to use at their clinic of choice. In order to apply for the grant, we require a few things– primarily a medical infertility diagnosis and ask that you share your story. It is important for applicants to know that each and every application is reviewed by our grant board to determine the final grant recipient. Your story and your journey are so important to us and to others who are experiencing infertility, and we hope to honor that in our process. Ultimately, this non-profit was created to be an uplifting platform of financial and emotional support and we hope to provide as many opportunities for grants as possible.
We invite you to learn more about Imagine Family and our grant program on our website. If you are a parent who has been through infertility yourself, we invite you to help provide your story of hope to those in the infertility community, or if you feel compelled we invite you to donate to the grant program.
