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Katie shares her story with Roaring Adventures and The16 Percent (Link below):
"After a year of marriage, my husband (30) and I (35) began to try to have kids. We gave it a year of trying on our own, with the hopeful and horrible ups and downs of “maybe, maybe, maybe” and then ”no” each month. At the year mark, we began testing, and the doctors found some scar tissue and a polyp on my uterus that they believed was the issue. After a hysteroscopy to hopefully help my husband and I get pregnant by getting rid of the polyp and scar tissue, we instead found out that I had endometrial cancer. We tried 6 months of a hormone treatment to try and get rid of the cancer but keep my fertility. It did not work, so on August 31, 2018, I had a hysterectomy to get rid of the cancer. It got rid of the cancer, praise the Lord, but I woke up from that surgery not just walking through infertility, but being completely infertile."
"I am a Christian, so for me, I hold onto my belief that there is more to our stories. Our identity is way more than if we have children or not. I believed that God was still good, in control and always with me. I believed He had a plan for my life much bigger than I could even imagine. I look back now a little over a year later, and it is insane to see the details that I could never have imagined. For example, August 8th 2017 I was told my treatments did not work and I would have to have the hysterectomy. On August 8th 2018, our daughter, Rosie was born. I never imagined I would be an artist painting custom embryos, of all things considering I can’t carry children, but here I am getting to bless women who have walked the infertility road, but now have their precious babies."
"My passion is people. I love hearing their stories. Helping them. Getting to be a small slice of their journey. I began selling my watercolor paintings in order to raise money for the adoption of our daughter. They began as floral wreaths that clients would personalize with wording in the middle of it. I loved the personalized aspect the most as I got to hear the stories behind why people chose the words they chose. As my business continued, I had the chance to create a custom piece for a client. She had two children through embryo adoption and wanted me to paint the picture from the doctor of the embryos. As I cannot carry children and had not been in a science class in a long time, I didn’t even really know what I was looking at. I loved it though! I loved how special it was to her and that they would be paintings she would cherish forever. It was such a gift to be able to create something so special for someone else..."
To read more about Katie's story, please visit: https://www.the16percent.ca/stories/2019/1/10/katies-story
Katie is graciously sharing her talent with the Roaring Adventures village : an incredible water color of embryo(s) so be sure to hop on Instagram and follow: @cherishedembryos and @ibecameyourmama to learn more about the upcoming giveaway! You can also find Katie on https://linktr.ee/cherishedembryos.
Thank you Katie for sharing your journey and talent with so many!
With so much gratitude, Roaring Adventures Village.