We have dedicated a large part of the next three issues to the incredible fertility journey of Renee Glassman and her family. Faced with what seemed like insurmountable obstacles, they persevered through genetic abnormalities, through the challenges of egg donation and surrogacy, and finally to a happy ending (we promise). Her story promises to give hope and a little extra strength on those days that anyone facing infertility understands all too well.

A Long Road, A Happy Ending
By Renee Glassman

Before I began the fertility process, I was a happy-go-lucky, optimistic soul. I generally never allowed anything to stress me out, but for three years after embarking on my infertility journey, I no longer recognized myself, which, to me, was the most horrible feeling in the world. We have all heard someone say that hormones can “make you crazy”. I am living proof of that.

My fertility journey began four years ago, at age 31, when I married my husband. I married at a point when most of my friends were in the beginning stages of building their families. I learned that three of my good friends had fertility issues so I decided that, since I was 31, we would start trying as soon as my husband and I were married.

I got pregnant right away. This fact didn’t surprise me because my mother had an easy time conceiving. I remember excitedly calling my sister and sharing with her how lucky I felt to get pregnant so easily. I experienced all the symptoms of a regular pregnancy, including night sweats, only to lose the pregnancy at six weeks. We decided to try again right away. The next time I was pregnant for five weeks and lost the pregnancy. What I remember most about this period was the constant worrying that I would miscarry again. I decided to start taking pregnancy tests as soon as I was pregnant and ended up pregnant two more times for only a few days.

Finally, My Ob/Gyn referred me to the amazing Dr. Jane Frederick at Huntington Reproductive Center. She conducted a series of tests on both me and my husband. She concluded that my uterus, fallopian tubes, and hormone levels looked healthy and that my husband’s sperm looked great. She told me that I was anemic and that I should begin taking an iron supplement daily, but said that anemia was not the reason for my miscarriages.

She recommended that I have genetic testing done, even though the majority of her patients didn’t elect to undergo it. The results of the testing revealed that I had a condition called Reciprocal Balanced Translocation. It is a very rare condition that only one in 625 people are diagnosed with.

She explained to me that two of my chromosomes, chromosome 1 and 5, flopped off and attached to one another. I remember feeling my heart sink as she told me. She explained that all of my genetic information was there, and that I was healthy, but the information in my body was rearranged differently, which tends to confuse my body after it conceives. I may have inherited this condition from one of my parents, which initially did not make any sense to me, since they had two healthy children. The condition could have also come about as a genetic fluke occurring at the time of conception. I was a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis and Down Syndrome. Most likely, I would continue miscarrying or have an unhealthy child.

Devastated and confused, I decided to research my condition online. I remember reading a success story about a woman with my identical condition who had experienced 13 miscarriages, but who had ultimately ended up with a healthy child. She also terminated two of her pregnancies after having an amniocentesis at 20 weeks and discovering that the fetuses were unhealthy.

I did not want to keep trying naturally, as she did, because the emotional ups and downs and hormone changes were already getting to be too much for me. One important lesson I took away from conducting my own online research was never to go online without speaking to a doctor immediately afterward, because I would often learn more than I wanted to learn and sometimes misinterpret the information, adding even more stress and uncertainty to my situation. I learned that people with my condition have a 90% chance of having cancer in the fourth decade of their lives. I found out from my gynecologist that, while this information was true, my translocated chromosomes were 1 and 5, and this meant that I would likely not have this outcome. Relief!

Dr. Frederick told me about a popular procedure called Preimplamantion Genetic Diagnosis. She said that the embryos my husband and I created could be tested before implantation, which meant we could have only our healthy embryos transferred. We decided that PGD gave us our best chances at a successful outcome and decided to move forward with the procedure.

Tune in next issue for Part 2 of Renee’s amazing journey.

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