First of all, we would like to thank absolutely everyone for your messages and donations since our last blog post. We were rather upset to get the decision but by the end of the evening, we were so positive and happy with the massive amount of support that was sent to us. It was the worst time of year to get the news just weeks before Xmas but despite this, people still donated. It didn't matter how much was donated we appreciate everything. It all adds up. We would like to mention a few things that stood out and really overwhelmed us...
First of all, the biggest thank you goes to Liz Leese and Joey's family and friends. Joey was one of my closest friends and passed away from Cystic Fibrosis very suddenly nearly 4 years ago. Her mum set up a Trust in her name. Basically her mum Liz decided to close the Trust and when she read our last blog she asked the Trust members, mainly Joeys family and friends, if they would be happy for us to have the money to help us. They were all so supportive and agreed (I would have totally understood if they had wanted it to go to CF or Joeys hospital) so over the last few weeks, we have received the cheques and a letter. The total added up to roughly £2300. Other amounts for around £200 came from my uncle and Josh's cousin. Despite the donations, the supportive messages have been amazing - people at my work have given me lots of cuddles and always asking how we are getting on, messages from people who I haven't seen since primary school, along with people offering to help fundraise money by offering places to hold events and running in events and offering some of their fundraising amounts. Just thank you.
We had our appointment today. We should have gone between Xmas and New Year but I decided to get pneumonia and get whisked into hospital so we changed it for today. Despite knowing we didn't have the funding we went along to see what our next steps and options could be. I had a letter from my lung consultant which contested the funding decision to take with us for them to send to the council to see if that would help. It didn't. The surrogacy hospital basically said the council were we live don't fund surrogacy even though they agree that we need to take that route. We have one final attempt and little ray of hope for funding though....
We have just got a mortgage and a house together in a different borough to where we live now, therefore, when we move in a few months time, we could apply through my new GP to the new borough to see if they have different rules and criteria and see if we can get the funding. I really don't hold out much hope as I feel the criteria will still be the same but it is definitely worth a try of course!
So we need to raise £7000 altogether for the first part of this journey. This will be to remove my eggs, them to make the embryos and to store them for up to a year. We will worry about the second part once this is done. We asked if they did any payment plans or offered any payment options but it has to be the full amount for them to go ahead. The fact we are now paying for the journey without the help of NHS means we are now private patients. This means we don't have to use the current hospital we are under.
The hospital has been amazing and we have no issues with them, it's just quite far away and we know there are hospitals that are nearer. Obviously it will be worth the journeys for the end result but if we can cut our travel time down significantly then that is a smart move. Today we left home at 1pm for our 3pm appointment. This appointment, along with our other appointments lasted around 15 minutes and then we made our way home and got home about 6pm. I'm used to hospitals and travelling but it is very tiring. We were given the current surrogacy hospital as that is the one my transplant hospital use when they refer patients. We will be contacting another hospital to see if we can be seen under them purely for ease and time.
In other news, we shouldn't have any problems making the embryos as all of our results came back good and normal. Josh's sperm is normal and no issues and my ovaries are good, one is within easy reach and my egg amount is good.
So now, we need to start the fundraising. So far we are looking at planning a football tournament or match along with family activities like a fun day, possibly a quiz night (everyone loves a quiz) and anything else that comes along. Just to also add, a friend has a place in the London Landmarks Half Marathon which takes place on 24 March. She is unable to run due to knee problems and has offered to give someone the chance to run and raise money for us. If anyone fancies it, let me know.
Hopefully the next blog will be a positive update that we have hit our target - We are trying to say positive!!
https://www.gofundme.com/the-making-of-baby-thomas
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