Marianne's Uterus Transplant and IVF Fund

Thank you for taking the time to check out my fundraiser!

For anyone that has walked the journey of infertility, you know how impossibly painful it can be. When I was 17 years old I found out that I was born with Complete Infertility due to MRKH - aka, I was born without a uterus or cervix. The only thing I ever wanted to do when I was growing up was be a mother until the rug was pulled out from under me. I was given few answers, virtually no professional support, and this feeling I was broken, incomplete, a freak (teens can be so dramatic).

12 years later, I have come to terms with my condition. I don't hide it (I don't exactly have it printed across my forehead though either) and I have accepted that motherhood for me will look a little different, and that's ok. 

Something like UTERUS TRANSPLANT was never something that occurred to me as an option. Until a facebook friend shared with me about the first baby born to a woman with a transplanted uterus. Could I do that? Would it be worth trying? So after a simple Google search, I found the clinical trial at Baylor, Scott, and White in Dallas, TX. And I just threw my hat in the ring. "Why not?" I thought, "it's worth exploring." I didn't hear anything for months, then when I did it was the slowest back and forth for about 5 months, to be honest I didn't really think I was really being considered. That is until I got a call from one of the nurses the morning of June 11th, asking me a few follow up questions and "so when can you come out to meet the team and get some testing done in the next couple weeks??"

Ummmm WHAT?!

So I had a decision to make. Was I willing to leap and try and reawaken a dream long released?

Hell. Yea.

2 weeks later I was in the clinic in Dallas with my mom asking as many questions as I was answering. Getting poked and prodded and imaged. And being told if we were serious, we had to start IVF medication in two days, because surgery will be in 2 months!

Here are the details of what the nest several months will look like:
- Multiple trips back and forth to Dallas
- 10-ish days in Dallas for IVF egg retrieval and embryo creation and pre-op labs
- Uterus Transplant surgery projected middle of August
- If everything looks good and no rejection of the organ, one embryo will be transplanted in my new uterus 2-4 months later

Why I am asking for financial help:
Seeing as this is a clinical trial, the estimated 300k the procedures and medications cost is covered by the hospital (yay!). But we are responsible for all IVF costs ($20,000 plus storage fees), travel expenses and accommodations, relocation, and significant time not working.

Here's the other kicker; to be a part of this trial, I have to be a resident of Dallas. We are picking up our lives, leaving jobs and families and friends. But we are going to chase a dream.

And this is all happening now. Like, NOW, now. 

So since no one can give you what you need unless you ask for it...

How you can help:
- Donate here. Any amount, no matter how small, makes this a reality.
- Airline miles. We have a lot of back and forth before we can get settled and those flights add up quickly.
- Prayer, thoughts, energy, spells... whatever you do, I humbly ask you to remember me and Chris as we walk forward in this season.

For anyone who made it all the way through all of that, I so appreciate you!

To follow the journey, connect with me on Facebook (Marianne Wood), Instagram (@mariannewood_), or my new blog dedicated to my UTX process, wombservice.home.blog

"Life is a gamble. There are no sureties. If you want something badly, you'd have to trust your heart and your instincts and then take a LEAP OF FAITH." - Alyssa Urbano