My name is Jolynn Wendt and if you’re reading this, I appreciate your time and interest in learning our story. My husband Jacob Wendt and I met in Platteville WI in 2018. As young college kids, we dreamed of what our future would look like—careers we love, a strong marriage, a big house with a backyard for the dogs, and hopefully 5 or so kids (crazy to think of now). While we’ve accomplished the first three things on that list, we have hit an absolute roadblock in starting our family which has turned us to asking for help. I never thought we’d be to this point. We were naive and thought having a family is easy, everyone does it right? Our world changed in August of 2024 when we were diagnosed with unexplained infertility after a year or so of trying to conceive. We’ve done every test (painfully so), taken every supplement, followed medical professionals and we are still in the same spot we were back then only another year later. Every cent we can spend has been put towards treatments. So far we have done 4 full IUIs (Intrauterine insemination) with countless medications and shots; plus timed cycles surrounding the IUIs for the past 12 months. It has been brutal and disappointing but we have to keep moving forward. This go fund me is hard for us to make and even harder to put out there. I personally am not someone who asks for help and the overall shame I feel from putting this out there is weighing on me heavy. Truthfully, it is our only choice. IVF is expected to cost us anywhere from $25,000-$40,000 by the time we are done and that is just the medical side of things plus almost all of it is due upfront before you can even start treatment. We are working with Mayo Clinic to schedule our IVF procedure in the next few months depending on financial standing. So here we are, two people who love kids more than we can explain and we can’t have any ourselves.. yet. They say it takes a village to raise kids and we are so fortunate to be a part of so many families’ villages. We are always the first to volunteer to watch other peoples’ kids, to play, take them places; our house has been a kid-friendly house since the day we bought it. I have spent the last 10 years teaching and loving other peoples kids as a childcare teacher, now childcare director. My 11 nieces and nephews are my world and have been since I became an aunt at 3. Being a mother-figure for years as someone who now is struggling to become a mom is heartbreaking. Jacob plans youth leagues for the community, volunteers his time at my childcare center to entertain our older kids, he coach’s the communities kids in 3 sports, and can constantly be found playing and laughing with the kids we know. He is the fun and dedicated uncle, coach, teacher.. he deserves to become the dad he has always wanted to be and we hope IVF will help get us there. Turns out that it might take us a village to create our child(ren) also. We have been open about this infertility journey since the beginning and I cannot thank you enough for the amount of prayers, well wishes, encouragement, and kindness you have all given us so far. To know that there are people all across the world praying for us and wishing for us is a feeling I’ll never be able to explain. We have decided to lean into the love and support we’ve received to ask for you to join us in our IVF journey by offering your support financially. All donations will be used for the known and to be determined medical costs for IVF. If you cannot contribute financially, we understand completely and in turn ask that you continue your prayers or well wishes for us. Thank you for reading our story and for your ongoing support. While being a parent still seems so far away for us, we hope this is a step in the right direction. Love, the Wendts Frequently asked questions (FAQ): 1. Why are you doing IVF here at Mayo if it’s so expensive? What have you looked into financially? -We have looked at a million different options. IVF is more affordable in Mexico and Europe BUT you have to pay to get there and be there two weeks depending on the place so not more affordable. Medical loans are crazy high in interest rates and just not financially possible with all we’ve already spent since most of them are only 1-3 year term lengths which make payments so high. We just bought a house in July of 2024 so we can’t take out an equity loan or anything similar. I have applied for over 20 grants specifically for IVF to which we received $500 that went towards our last IUI procedure. 2. Why don’t you just adopt? - We would love to adopt one day and hope to be able to in the near future. We have seriously looked into adoption and found out that it is just as costly and not as simple as just finding a child to take home like people think. It can cost anywhere between $30,000-$50,000 or more for adoption and it is an extremely long process to get approved, get picked by families for adoption and more. This isn’t off the table but it’s not our first step yet. - We also have put ourselves through so much physically, mentally, and financially so far to have a child that is both Jacob and I which is why we’re moving to IVF first then adoption in the future. 3. What about fostering? - Great news is that we are in the process of becoming foster parents! We have our licensing visits set up for the end of August and beginning of September. While we are very excited to help kids and families in this community, fostering is not a replacement for not being able to have children. The goal of foster care is reunification of the child(ren) and their parents or direct family members. This doesn’t always happen and fostering to adopt does happen but that is a rare occurrence. We are not fostering to benefit ourselves, we are hoping to foster to benefit others in a time of need. 4. Why don’t you or Jacob get a second job with insurance that covers IVF? Like Starbucks? - We have seriously considered this also but truthfully there are not enough hours in the day for us. Some weeks I can work anywhere from 50-65+ hours depending on what the childcare center needs. I don’t have a regular 9-5 type of schedule and have to be flexible for the 100+ kids we care for and their parents plus for my staff. I’m also getting my Administration Credential online through UW-Platteville - Jacob works his full time job as a Lifetime Athletics Coordinator, does personal training on the side, plans the youth leagues, sets up countless youth sports things like basketball tournaments and volleyball tournaments, and coach’s 3 different sports year round—track, football, powerlifting. Plus he is getting his second masters degree online for Sports Administration
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