Local group raises infertility awareness

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - A local group is working on a project so promising, fertility specialists said the effort could help boost fertility for some couples.

The goal is to relieve stress and raise awareness. Relieving stress will help some couples reproduce, doctors said.

Pregnant women suffer nine months to hear their healthy baby or babies cry. If only Nicole and Jason Hays were so lucky.

“The plan was to have two (children),” Nicole Hays said. “We had names picked out and all that good stuff. Now, we’re kind of at the point where if we could just have one, we would be thrilled.”

Doctors told Hays her right fallopian tube is blocked. Four times, the couple tried insemination to get pregnant. Four times it failed.

“It felt like your hopes were just crumbling,” Hays said. “That’s not a place anybody wants to (be or) feel (where you are) just wondering if it’s ever going to happen. What are we going to do to try to get there?”

“It is a significant problem for so many, many people,” said Dr. Ryan M. Riggs, a specialist at Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in Overland Park.

Riggs said one of every five couples suffers with infertility issues. Some causes go unexplained. Treatment can be expensive. Insemination costs an average $895, according to the National Infertility Association . The same group estimates the average In-Vitro Fertilization treatment, a much more effective pregnancy tool, at $12,400.

However, for most couples, Dr. Riggs said eliminating stress works wonders.

“Helping these patients feel comfortable, helping these patients feel supported throughout the process is absolutely vital,” Dr. Riggs said.

For the first time in the metro, a support group solely for couples struggling with infertility is forming. The Kansas City Infertility Awareness group already has more than 100 members. April 30, the group plans to hold a free infertility conference. It will offer people struggling with similar issues time to learn and share together.

“The process of having the support gives you a different outlook because you have people to lift you up who truly do get what you are feeling,” Hays said.

For more information about the infertility awareness conference, click here .