Brian and I became allies one fateful night at our friend Clark’s house in January 2006. By April, we were an item. By June, our friends were universally thankful that there is truth to the old saying, “there’s someone for everyone.”

In August 2007, we went on our first big vacation together to Peru.  The last morning on the Inca trail, we descended into Manchu Picchu. At the end of the afternoon, we were just about ready to catch the bus to the train station when Brian grabbed my hand and pulled me in front of Happy Mountain for one last photo opportunity. It was there that he suddenly dropped on one knee and proposed. Can you believe it? I was actually surprised!!!

If Manchu Picchu is one of the 7 new wonders of the world, Brian and I finding each other and getting married is certainly the 8th new wonder. On May 10, 2008 Brian and I exchanged vows in front of our family and friends at the Drive Thru Tree in the Avenue of the Giants. It was a weekend few could forget, and it set the tone for our life together with our fantastic community.

The past 18 months have been an amazing journey for both of us as we have explored the world and our relationship. Throughout this time, we have been working towards our dream of starting a family. While the experience is obviously fun (!), our lack of success led to consults with doctors which in turn yielded challenging discoveries.

First, the Doctors believe that IVF is the only possibility for us to be able to successfully conceive a child. Second, after a barrage of appointments and tests, Brian has a clinical diagnosis of Marfan’s syndrome. The combination of both has led to a strong recommendation of IVF with PGD (In Vitro Fertilization with Preimplantation Genetic Diagnoses). PGD is a fairly new process where the embryo undergoes genetic testing before it is transferred (implanted) into the uterus.  The total cost for this procedure will be approximately $25,000 – $30,000.

This has been a private matter that we have both been struggling with for the past months as we saved money for the procedure. Time is unfortunately of the essence as I am racing towards the statistically-dreaded 39. We decided to throw privacy to the wind, opened our ordeal to our community and asked for your support. To quickly raise the needed funds for the procedure, we did what we do best and threw a party on January 31, 2010: Makin Whoopie! The event was a huge success, allowing us to meet our fundraising goals. Through our community, we were introduced to Dr. Schmidt and Nova IVF, and we are thrilled to be moving forward with our IVF protocol with Nova.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We are truly grateful for the amazing people in our lives.