Dear Family and Friends,

My Son, Ryan and his wife, Katie are in need of a surrogate to help them start a family. This has been a very emotional journey for all of us, but especially for them.

Please see their story below. Many thanks for any form of support you can offer to help them bring their baby in to the world.

With sincere gratitude,

Janet

Hello!

Ryan and I met six years ago in May of 2018 in Aruba.  I was on a bachelorette trip and Ryan was on a work trip for team building. We met on an ATV tour, and it turned out we were staying at the same resort. By the end of the trip, we realized we wanted to get to know each other more.

Ryan was living in Boston at the time, and I was living in Charlotte. Post-Aruba, we started texting each other occasionally, that quickly became daily, and before we knew it, we were FaceTiming each other every day.

Finally, in July, Ryan flew out to Charlotte for a weekend trip. That weekend went so well that he flew back the next weekend for my birthday! From there, I knew we had something special.  We did long distance for a few months, which felt like forever. Everything was going great except for the distance.

In September of 2018, I was feeling sick often, so my best friend dragged me to the emergency room. The next day I was sent to a specialist and there I was diagnosed with ovarian and pancreatic cancer. The diagnosis did not look good. Now, I had to break this news to my new boyfriend whom I’d just met five months ago.  He told me I'm crazy to think he wouldn't want to be a part of my life because of this.

Ryan relocated to Charlotte as soon as possible to support me through all the surgeries and hospital visits. They had to remove one ovary where the cancer was located, and performed a whipple surgery on my pancreas. Thankfully, the surgeries were a success. And I was able to keep one of my ovaries.

In July 2020, Ryan proposed, and we were married in October 2021.  We immediately started trying for a baby. After months of no success, we went to see a fertility specialist. That is when it was revealed that the cancer had spread to the uterus - which no one expected, including my oncologist. Immediately, his recommendation was a full hysterectomy. We dreamt of being parents so we seeked out help to start IVF - embryo preservation. We are so grateful that we ended up with six strong embryos through this process.

From there, we did a hormonal therapy treatment study trial to see if it could treat the cancer. In the meantime, we also went to MD Anderson in Houston for a second opinion. Ultimately, the hormone treatment was unsuccessful, and the second opinion resulted in the same recommendation, a full hysterectomy. The exact word from my oncologist was, "Katie, you can't be a mommy if you are not here" .  He is right but it was still one of the hardest thing to hear and accept. I wouldn’t be able to carry my own children.

Because this cancer was spreading, my oncologist urged us to have the surgery as soon as possible. The surgery was successfully performed in April of 2023. Currently, I do not need any other treatments, I am "cancer free" - it still feels weird to say, I think all my cancer warriors out there can agree with me on that.. Now, once again, we are ready and excited to start growing our family.

Throughout the years, cancer has taken so many parts of my life - mental, physical, the daily rollercoaster of emotions that I have had to fight through, but I will not let it take away my dream of being a mom. We still want to grow our family but we must go the route of surrogacy.  The estimated cost from our Surrogacy Agency will range from $130,000 to $160,000.

Therefore, with the amount of money it costs to have a surrogate carry our child, in addition to all the medical expenses we have incurred over the years, my mother-in-love has graciously put together this fundraiser to help ease some of the financial burden.

We have been matched with an amazing surrogate and we are so excited to go on this journey!  We are extremely grateful for whatever you are able to contribute.

Thank you all from the bottom of our heart! May God bless you always.

Katie LaMar