Better Sweat Foundation Success Stories
At The Better Sweat Foundation, we believe in the power of hope, resilience, and community. What started as a simple idea in 2017—a workout fundraiser to support a random local couple’s fertility journey—has since grown into a movement of strength, support, and giving. Over the years, we’ve been able to provide financial assistance and encouragement to couples navigating the emotional and financial challenges of fertility treatments.
Each year, thanks to the generosity of our Bent On Better community, our corporate sponsors, parters, and beyond, we raise funds to help families-in-the-making take one step closer to their dream. These are their stories—stories of perseverance, love, and the unbreakable spirit of those who refuse to give up.
These are just some of the amazing stories from our grant efforts over the years, the proof that together, we can turn sweat into something truly life-changing.
“The grant we received was truly a light for us during a very dark period… We will never be able to adequately express how thankful we are to [Bent On Better] and the Better Sweat Foundation for helping make our dreams of becoming parents a reality!”
My husband, Brad, and I got married in September of 2020 and decided we wanted to start a family right away. I had a history of PCOS symptoms, so I sought help from Main Line Fertility within a few months of getting married in February of 2021.
Dr. Bloom decided the best first step for us would be to try medicated IUI. We went through six medicated IUIs which were unsuccessful before we decided to move on to IVF. We all had very high hopes for great numbers because I was in my 20’s, relatively healthy and PCOS usually yields a high number of eggs. Unfortunately, that first cycle we found out we were dealing with an egg quality issue and out of over 20 eggs retrieved we ended up with zero embryos. This was a devastating blow because we only had $10,000 in coverage through insurance so a majority of any subsequent rounds of IVF would be out of pocket. Due to the egg quality issue we also added on medications that were not covered by insurance and cost thousands of dollars out of pocket.
Our second retrieval was in January of 2022 and we again retrieved over 20 eggs. Our embryos were slow growers and we ended up with one day 6 and one day 7 embryo. Miraculously, both came back genetically normal after undergoing further testing. Additional testing showed I also have endometriosis. This was another shock because I’ve never had any symptoms of it, and we would need to go through 6-8 weeks of treatment for that before transferring one of our embryos.
Due to my autoimmune issues, we opted to add on some additional medications to give our embryo the best chance at sticking. These medications were not covered by insurance and would cost us over $5,000 out of pocket and required me to drive to Philly every week for infusions.
Treatment leading up to our first FET started right around NIAW 2022. In 2021 we attended Sweat for a Cause, so I decided to apply for the grant in 2022 in hopes of offsetting some of the out of pocket expenses that were taking a toll on us financially. We were ecstatic to find out we were selected to receive the grant. It felt like the first thing that was going right for us in a long journey with so many bumps in the road along the way.
I underwent my first FET with our day 6 4AA graded embryo on June 2, 2022 which was a success! Our daughter, Hannah, was born in February of 2023 almost two years to the day of our initial consult with Dr. Bloom.
Words cannot express how thankful we are for Dr. Bloom, her staff at Main Line Fertility, Matt and Lynn and the entire [Bent On Better] team who make Sweat for a Cause possible and giving us Hannah. She is the sweetest kid on earth, and we can see firsthand how IVF makes the world a better place because of her!
The grant we received was truly a light for us during a very dark period of time in our lives. Before receiving it we weren’t sure how we were going to make things work financially, so it took a lot of weight off of our shoulders and allowed us to focus on remaining healthy and stress free.
Again, we will never be able to adequately express how thankful we are to BoB and the Better Sweat Foundation for her helping to make our dreams of becoming parents a reality! ” – Taylor & Brad