My dear friend was given a Hope bracelet when she began IVF. I had already been through IVF and had a beautiful son. My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer when our miracle baby was just two months old. After very difficult treatment, and a difficult road to recover, we found out his cancer was metastatic. He began a clinical trial which has kept him mostly stable. Last spring the cancer began to grow, shortly after we found out that we somehow were miraculously pregnant naturally. My dear friend had worn her Hope bracelet throughout her IVF journey and her entire pregnancy. Her son was now six months old, and she was ready to pass her Hope on to me. She did so at a women's retreat just before my husband was going to receive high dose radiation. I had told her that I didn't want to just pray for each small victory in my husband's cancer journey- I wanted to pray boldly for miraculous healing. She gave me hope to do just that. I wore my Hope without taking it off until the day my precious daughter was born. After she was born I knew it was time to pass on my hope. When I did IVF, I was blessed with many strong embryos. We only used 1 and had 16 remaining snowflakes. It was time to find them a chance at life. After a few letdowns, I found a perfect family for my embryos. I never imagined I would have a relationship with the family that I gave my embryos to, but the more we got to know each other, the more I couldn't imagine not being a part of each other's lives. The day we met in person for the first time I knew this was the family for my embryos. When we were saying our goodbyes, I unclasped my Hope and took the hand of the woman who would carry my embryos and put the Hope bracelet on her wrist. I told her it was time for me to not only give her hope, but to put my hope for my embryos in their care. She has become like a sister to me, and I am so thankful to have her in my life. She is currently very very early in her first pregnancy with one of our donated embryos.
-Ashleigh
