Dear Rabbi Bochner and Bonei Olam,
We finally found a few moments to collect our thoughts and write this letter we knew needed to be written for a while now…
Some months ago, Hashem blessed us with twins. Twins that are, B”H, beautiful and healthy babies. This is a true miracle in our case, as our oldest child was born with an extremely rare genetic condition. After our oldest was born, we were told all pregnancies carry a risk of future children being born with this rare and painful condition. Our only hope of reducing the risk was through PGD, preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Since the condition was so rare, research on it was basically nonexistent. We knew only a miracle would enable us to identify the gene mutation, and indeed it was a miracle when European researchers sought to isolate the exact condition. It took a few years and at last they were successful in identifying the gene.
We were very excited to learn of this development but at the same time felt totally lost. How would we go about pursuing treatment? How would we pay for it? We had some savings but not nearly enough to cover PGD and the full expense of an IVF cycle, perhaps two or more; with IVF it’s not unusual to make multiple attempts.
So we emailed Bonei Olam. Bonei Olam stands out as the organization that helped us in ways that we could never have imagined possible.
We needed to know what our treatment would involve. We didn’t want to deal with the additional stress of surprises, and Bonei Olam helped us achieve that serenity and peace of mind we so desperately needed. The information was clearly provided and laid out in layman’s terms. What struck us even more about Bonei Olam is how totally devoted to our case everyone was. Our counselor, for all purposes, was our personal professor, teaching, advising, and supporting us. We spent hours on the phone, often late into the night, going over the details. We reviewed data, statistics, research, videos, charts, graphs and forms with no signs of tiring or frustration on the part of our Bonei Olam representative.
As we prepared for the transfer of embryos during our second cycle the doctor called. Suddenly, things looked very bleak. Within minutes, we had our Bonei Olam counselor (we woke him up!) on the phone, and the doctor, being a kind man, agreed to relay the information to the counselor so that he could properly explain everything to us over the phone. In the end, it was decided to transfer the two embryos, and today we, B”H, have healthy twins!
Finally, there is something else we would like to thank you for, and that is all the financial assistance Bonei Olam provided. We mentioned previously that we did have some money saved for this, as we were always hoping for the day when the gene mutation affecting our firstborn would be identified, but we didn’t have nearly enough to cover the full expense of PGD, IVF and insurance for one cycle, let alone two. Bonei Olam came through for us! We have no words with which to adequately express our gratitude. We, like most people, found it very difficult to look to others for assistance. But we knew we had no choice!
Our twins are Bonei Olam babies. We are eternally grateful to Bonei Olam for the gift of our beautiful babies and for the gift of generations. How can we ever repay you for that?
We sign off with thanks and appreciation no words can adequately capture,
PIN# ACF061593
Bonei Olam is running a Bergen County fundraising online campaign from Sunday, May 9, through Sunday, May 16. All funds raised will be distributed to local Bergen County couples who have approached Bonei Olam for financial assistance. Please help your fellow neighbors, friends and families who are struggling with infertility and longing to start families of their own. To donate go to www.boneiolam.org/bergencounty.
