I have been on an "IVF Journey" for 5 years, and completed 6 cycles. I was lucky on my third cycle and became pregnant, but unfortunately lost our baby at 3 months and have never been successful since.
It has just been heartache after heartache.
In February, my husband and I became a statistic by becoming 1 in 4 couples to early pregnancy loss. This was extremely hard as it had taken us 5 years of IVF treatment to finally be able to say YES our dream has become a reality … But it just was not meant to be.
As I struggled to come to terms with what had just happened to us and feeling all the emotions I needed to talk to someone, I needed to vent the frustration but didn’t know who to turn to.
I reached out to the Pink Elephants amazing network and was lucky enough to have their support through some of the darkest days of my life. The support and understanding I received from Pink Elephants was truly incredible and I have shared their information with many friends and families who struggle.
Even though I am unlucky and I am unable to hold my precious baby as I planned, I am still a mum and I will be celebrating Mother’s Day like so many others. So that’s where the idea came from - to dedicate a fundraiser to this amazing cause and raise awareness.
I work at my parent’s family business, which is a childcare centre of all things. I organise all events for the centre, and our biggest event was going to be Mother’s Day.
I started collecting gifts from people from work, and from relatives. I asked for them to be donated (these included - essential oils / bath bombs made from one of our Educators, a $100 - gift voucher for a tattoo to remember your little angel, pamper basket full of essentials you look for when you lose your little baby, and flowers from local florists. I then researched and found an Australian lady who makes pink beaded bracelets with a gold heart on them told her my mission and she gave me discounts to help this cause of mine.
Mothers and Grandmothers came in, and tickets were selling so quickly I even had to order another lot of bracelets to sell people as they just wanted to help support me.
Lastly, we provided a morning tea for our Mothers, Grandmothers and Special People and I made a speech explaining my heartache and how Pink Elephants helped me and continue to help others every day.
It was so hard to speak out for the first time but I got a lot of appreciation and respect. This month of May project helped myself and Mum get closer again as she has lost 4 babies before she had myself and my sisters. Every chance I get I forever mention Pink Elephants and encourage other women and men to look to them to help them through their hard times.
By, Stephanie
