Three weeks down. Three more to go. The chemotherapy and radiation treatments had begun to take their toll. Life slowly drained from my once strong and vibrant body.
As weak and dim as I was, on this morning, January 1, 2013, I felt something pull at me to move – to go for a walk, to put my energy into something positive, something that transported me to the future when all was good again and cancer far behind. With a new journal, I sat down at the corner coffee shop and wrote, daydreaming about the foundation I would begin once my feet were on solid ground. In this moment I considered all the pieces to my journey, focusing on what had been the most difficult, where I needed more support, and what I could’ve used to ease the pain. What seemed to stand out, to impact me the most, was the heartbreak I endured when told my chances of having a baby would be slim. In the days and weeks that followed that conversation, I was overcome with sadness added to an already existing fear of cancer.
It wasn’t until one month after my diagnosis, that I was introduced to Dr. Mark Surrey at Southern California Reproductive Center. This meeting shifted everything. He brought my dreams of motherhood back to the forefront of my mind, allowing a sense of hope to return as he shared my options for fertility preservation. Under his guidance and awesome care, I saved 18 eggs before I started treatment – the treatment that would lead to a radical hysterectomy and early menopause. If I would not have given myself the gift and insurance of freezing my eggs, I would have lost the possibility of being a mother to my biological babies forever.
This is why I started The Fly Buddha Foundation – to guide women with gynecological cancer in the preservation of their fertility prior to treatment. Through financial services, community resources, and a powerful mentorship program, we strive to create a possibility where one would otherwise not exist, the possibility for a woman to have her own biological child. Now, thanks to the huge hearts at Southern California Reproductive Center and all our giving donors we can help make our Cancer Warriors’ dreams of motherhood a beautiful reality!
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