On April 21, 2007, my life changed in an instant. I was only 18 years old, a high school senior, and a passenger in a car accident that left me with a broken neck and a C6 spinal cord injury. Overnight, I went from being an active, adventurous teenager to someone who would live life in a wheelchair.
I spent the next five months in a rehabilitation center in Atlanta, Georgia. Every day I learned how to adjust, how to rebuild some independence, and how to face this new reality. When I returned home to Orlando, I continued my therapy, but I felt restless. Before my accident, I had been a competitive dancer for seven years. I loved pushing myself, being active, and taking on challenges. Sitting still didn’t feel like me. So I began searching for better therapy programs for people with spinal cord injuries.
That’s when I found NextStep in California, a recovery center offering activity-based therapy. I started making trips there, and it completely changed my outlook. In 2009, my mom and I decided to bring that hope home to Florida. Together, we founded NextStep Orlando, a nonprofit recovery center for people living with paralysis. Building that center gave me purpose and strength.
About a year after we opened, I met Matthew, who would one day become my husband. We connected quickly. He was the first man I had met since my accident who wasn’t intimidated by my disability. He didn’t hesitate to help me with the little things, like getting in and out of the car or cutting my food. He just made it all feel normal. We were both only 21, but we fell in love, moved in together, and built a life side by side.
Matt became my full-time caregiver as well as my partner. We dated for over seven years before getting engaged and finally got married on May 11, 2019. Our wedding was everything I had dreamed of, on the beach at Daytona Shores. After the wedding, we knew we wanted to start a family.
The thought of pregnancy scared me, though. I knew some quadriplegic mothers who had carried babies, but they were always honest about how hard it was. My health challenges, low blood pressure, catheter care, bowel programs, poor appetite, and the risk of pressure sores, were big concerns. I also knew one mother who chose surrogacy, and after learning more about it, Matt and I decided that would be the safest option for us.
Surrogacy is expensive, but I had been raising money for medical needs since my accident. With help from Help Hope Live, I learned we could use those funds to cover the costs. That gave us the push to move forward. Just as we were getting ready to start in 2020, the pandemic hit, delaying everything.
By May 2020, clinics reopened and we began the fertility process. But roadblock after roadblock appeared. Because of my spinal cord injury, I needed general anesthesia for egg retrieval, and the first two clinics we visited weren’t certified to handle that. I felt defeated, even considered carrying a baby myself, but a high-risk doctor confirmed surrogacy was the safest path. Finally, we found a reproductive endocrinologist who could do the procedure safely in a hospital. In 2021, I went through IVF and produced 16 eggs. Eight of them became healthy embryos.
Next, we needed to match with a surrogate. Through Creative Love Surrogacy, we met an incredible woman who lived just 30 minutes away. We instantly clicked with her and her husband. But soon she faced medical setbacks. Months of treatment followed before she was finally cleared for IVF.
In March 2022, the embryo transfer was scheduled, the day after my birthday. Seeing our perfect grade A embryo gave us so much hope. Because of Covid, we couldn’t watch the transfer in person, but our surrogate filmed it. All of us crowded around her phone to see our little embryo placed in her uterus. We left the clinic believing this was the start of our family.
Two weeks later, we got the devastating news that the transfer hadn’t worked. I couldn’t hold back my tears. Our surrogate was heartbroken too but promised to keep trying. Thankfully, we still had seven embryos.
The doctors ran more tests and started her on new treatment. Just this week, she was cleared to try again. Tomorrow she begins IVF once more, and we are holding on to hope that this transfer will be successful.
This journey has been long and exhausting, 12 years together, 3 years married, and 2 years trying for a baby. But Matt and I believe with all our hearts that our family is coming. Until then, we are pushing forward with love, hope, and the dream of holding our child in our arms one day.
