Help Rochelle and Luka complete their loving family

When I was 37 I made the scary and brave decision to do fertility treatment on my own with help of Fertility Associates and an amazing and incredibly giving anonymous sperm donor. I'd always wanted a family and having been a primary teacher for 15plus years only heightened my love of children and increased my sadness because I did not have a partner and surely couldn't do that on my own especially as I was nearing my 40s. After having an appointment, I was determined it was the path I was supposed to take in my life. One year.on the wait list, 1 year of emotional cycle after cycle of treatment, and then finally 3 weeks before I was 40 I gave birth to my son, who is my complete world.

I always had the intention of trying for two children and I continued to pay storage fees for the remaining donor sperm. Unfortunately during my pregnancy with my son Luka, I had an undiagnosed herniated disc (was told it was just mechanical lower back pain and would resolve itself) but by the time I was 23 weeks I could not walk, was in absolute agony and knew something was terribly wrong. It finally took an MRI at 29 weeks to confirm I had a life threatening herniated disc that was pressing on my spinal chord and could very quickly cause paralysis. I was rushed to hospital where I stayed for 9 weeks on bed rest until my son was born under GA via c-section. I had emergency back surgery when my son was 7 weeks old, which unfortunately did not go too well with nerve loss in areas in my back, left leg and foot. Rehab and determination to get on my feet and be able to walk again and care for my baby drove me hard and after 6/7months I'd made steady progress and had just started to think about when I'd try for baby number two when a sudden appendicitis attack meant I was back to hospital, being operated on and then getting back on my feet again for another few months.

I was now 41 and knew the chances of doing fertility treatment again and having it be successful were not high but I still felt there was another child that belonged in our little, loving family so I tried again. What followed was one cycle with sadly a chemical pregnancy and 2 further unsuccessful cycles. I was now 43.

My son and I often talk about how lucky we are together and how much we love each other, at the beginning of this year he asked mummy are we having another baby, I think I'm supposed to have a brother or sister and it really resounded with me for a long time as I'd been feeling the same way.

So, 3 weeks ago at the ripe age of 44 (but with apparently fertility age of a 35 year old) and after taking a risk and self funding $16000 I did my last shot at fertility treatment and a privately funded IVF cycle. I got 3 fertilized embryos, two which were transferred back into me and one that has been frozen for a last future chance. Sadly I found out this week the two embryos did not take and I was not pregnant, devastating news.

My situation now is that I've got a last chance to conceive with the frozen embryo but at a further post of $2500, which unfortunately I cannot self fund. After 7 years of trying and over $37000 spent I'm financially exhausted, but desperately do not want to give up this dream and leave that one little embryo in the freezer.

If you have experienced fertility issues yourself, have friends or family experience this issue, or would just like to help a loving and unique little family unit have a last shot of maybe having a new beloved child and sibling, then perhaps you may wish to help and perhaps also share this page far and wide. Luka and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts xxx