Aleshia and Cameron's IVF journey

As some of you may know my granddaughter, Aleshia is a carrier of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. This is the same disease that my beloved David passed away from back in 1993. Aleshia and her husband Cameron are taking the proactive steps to eliminate this horrible disease from affecting any future members of our family. They have decided to move forward with surrogacy, which is unfairly and extremely expensive.

Aleshia has always longed to be a mother for as long as I can remember. She has known her whole life she is a carrier of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and would need to do IVF to avoid having a child who has the disease or is a carrier. Recently, Aleshia was found to have a rare type of heart failure directly linked to being a DMD carrier. She also unfortunately has several tumors on her liver that can increase in size and possibly rupture during pregnancy. Aleshia is unable to carry a baby during pregnancy on her own, due to the increased risks for her health in addition to passing on DMD. Surrogacy is the safest option for Aleshia and Cameron to have their own baby and eliminate this disease from their children having to deal with this heartbreaking diagnosis.

Please do not feel obligated to donate. If you do, we appreciate any contribution no matter the amount. We will continue to post updates on their journey. She has begun working with a surrogacy agency (US-surrogacy) and is in the process of creating embryos and matching with a gestational carrier. This unfortunately comes with a high cost and is estimated to cost between $150,000-200,000.

Thank you,

Aleshia’s family