Wes and Michayla's Fight to Become Parents
After two years of trying and a life-changing diagnosis, this couple is holding onto hope and each other.
Wes and Michayla married in 2021 with the kind of quiet certainty many couples know: someday, there would be a child. Maybe Wes's smile. Maybe Michayla's eyes. A nursery to design, traditions to build, tiny footsteps in the hallway. They weren't in a rush. They just believed it would happen.
Two years, and a diagnosis that changed everything
For two years, they tried. Hope slowly filled up with appointments, tests, procedures, and hard conversations. Six months ago, they received what Michayla describes as an earth shattering diagnosis: severe male-factor infertility, azoospermia, meaning no sperm found. In a single moment, the path they had imagined dissolved.
The road forward, they've been told, runs through advanced medical care: an invasive microsurgery for Wes, followed by IVF with ICSI. These are the procedures that offer them a real chance. Their insurance does not cover any infertility treatment. As part of the plan, they may also need to consider donor sperm as a backup, a possibility Michayla writes has carried its own grief and difficult, tender conversations between them.
Holding onto each other
Michayla is honest about what this season has felt like. Disappointment. Moments of feeling left behind while friends and family grow their own families. And, alongside all of it, a marriage that has grown stronger. "Through every setback," she writes, "we've held onto each other and onto hope."
They still believe their story isn't over.
Why the cost is so heavy
Building a family through IVF, ICSI, and surgical care is one of the most expensive medical journeys a couple can take, and it is one that most insurance plans in the United States still do not meaningfully cover. Families like Wes and Michayla's are often asked to carry the full weight themselves, on top of the emotional weight they are already carrying. That is exactly why community matters here. A shared story, a small gift, a forwarded link: these are the things that turn an impossible number into a reachable one.
What Wes and Michayla are fighting for isn't extravagant. It's the ordinary, sacred stuff: bedtime stories, first birthdays, little footsteps down the hallway, the simple daily life of a family.
How you can help
If their story stays with you, please take a moment to read their fundraiser in their own words and consider chipping in whatever feels right. No amount is too small. Every donation, every share, every kind message helps lighten the load and reminds this couple that they are not walking this road alone. Together, we can help move Wes and Michayla closer to the family they have been dreaming of.
From the publisher
You don't have to carry the cost alone.
Gift of Parenthood awards a $20,000 Family Fund grant each cycle and helps families fundraise for IVF, surrogacy, and adoption. If this is your journey, there's a place to start.