Tiffany Lewis is a nurse, author, endometriosis warrior, and the founder and CEO of the charity The Grace of Hannah. Started as a passion project, The Grace of Hannah is an organization that works to provide resources, community, and funding for invitro fertilization treatment (IVF). After struggling to get pregnant, Lewis was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2016.
While suffering with endometriosis, a chronic pain and infertility-related disease, Lewis
says that specialists and surgeons were more focused on getting her pregnant than dealing with her pain. “Of course I wanted a baby, I’d always wanted a baby, but how could I care for a baby when dealing with this pain.”
“I knew that I needed a support group, but whenever I looked into fertility groups I couldn’t find something that spoke to me.” Tiffany explained. According to the Eunis Kennedy Shriver of Child Health and Human Development, nine percent of men and eleven percent of women live with fertility problems. Additionally, the Government of Canada reports that 91% of women can fall pregnant at 30-years-old, 77% by the age if 35, and only 53% by the age of 40. Tiffany was growing more concerned the older she got. At 35-years-old, she was already struggling to conceive.
Earlier in her diagnosis Tiffany had endometriosis ablation surgery. During the procedure her doctor found that her tubes were so damaged by the disease that they needed to be removed. When Tiffany woke up from surgery she found that she would be unable to conceive without IVF, another obstacle.
Her fertility issues led to Lewis founding The Grace of Hannah. A Christian herself, the name of the group has biblical origins. “In the bible Hannah had a husband who had children prior to her, and her desire was to have a baby with her husband, she would pray at temple and would be laughed at.” said Tiffany “She would see others with children and she asked god for a son and eventually he gave her a child. Hannah’s grace was in her strength. I see a lot of that in myself.”
She created Grace of Hannah with the goal of creating the type of support group she was looking for. According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, the chance of becoming pregnant via IVF after the age of 42 is less than 5%, and Tiffany believes it. “All of the support groups we (her and her husband) went to were targeted to older people. People who’d never had kids. But I was still trying.”
When asked what The Grace of Hannah stands for Tiffany says simply “Families are love and The Grace of Hannah is just that. It’s love.” Grace of Hannah organizes multiple support events such as brunches and fundraisers to support the infertility community, raise awareness, and raise funds for people who are doing IVF. According to Lewis-English, there’s some big next steps for her charity.
“We’re having our next event on November 29th of this year. It’s a big gala, with dinner and speakers, dancing and other festivities. We’re planning to raise the $15,000.00 USD that will fund one family’s IVF journey.”
Without universal healthcare, and most insurance companies unwilling to cover the costs, fertility treatments such as IVF are costly in the United States. “My husband and I struggle, we have all these hospital bills to pay” says Tifffany “We can’t neglect ourselves and our home, but how are we meant to bring another life into the world?”. But Lewis and her husband aren’t alone. According to a study by The National Infertility Association, American women between the ages of 25 and 35-years-old accumulated an average of $30,000 USD in debt while going through fertility treatments. Additionally 39% of study participants reported using credit cards to cover their treatments, and 12.6% say they had to take out loans, and four percent report having used their home as equity.
Despite the many setbacks Tiffany faced, The Grace of Hannah is still going strong in it’s third year. “How could I quit,” says Lewis ““I haven’t felt this kind of love for the work I’m doing since I went to nursing school.”
Written By: Devon Clare Banfield
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