Patient Stories

Coutney, Scott and Callum

We love Magee and the team at the Center for Fertility and Reproductive Endocrinology. They gave us our miracle baby, Callum, who just turned two!

After seven years of trying to have a baby — including eight rounds of fertility treatments, three failed intrauterine insemination treatments, and a miscarriage — my husband Scott and I were told no one in our area could help us. That’s when we turned to Dr. Joseph Sanfilippo and the Center for Fertility and Reproductive Endocrinology at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh. It’s a four-hour drive from our home in Bradford, Pa., in McKean County. We live just a few miles from the New York border, but the drive was worth it.

In the summer of 2019, we started the IVF (in vitro fertilization) treatment process. Every other day for a month, I drove four hours each way to Pittsburgh and back for testing and treatment, including fertility drugs, bloodwork, ultrasounds, and monitoring, followed by egg retrieval and fertilization. In September, one embryo was transferred — and it took! After seven years of trying and heartache and loss, we were elated to find out I was pregnant.

Feeling his kicks and hearing his heartbeat were the greatest things. Callum was born in June 2020 at Olean General Hospital in New York weighing 8 pounds, 5 ounces. We now have this beautiful child and he is such a blessing.

We have two embryos left and we can’t wait to do this all over again with the same people at the Center. I even plan to deliver at Magee the next time! After all we went through, we are committed to UPMC and Magee. I’d like to give everyone there a big hug. They helped make our dreams come true.

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Scott, Brigitte, and Nicholas Gross

How do you express in mere words having been able to experience a miracle? My husband and I are two lucky people who got to do just that.

We, like so many others, were unable to conceive. After six years of trying on our own, my gynecologist, Dr. Camacho, referred us to Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC. Once we met with the doctors at Magee, we felt we finally had hope. Our dream of having a baby may really come true. After testing, procedures, and training, our attempt was made through in vitro fertilization (IVF). What an amazing experience. The doctors, nurses, embryologist, and office staff were so supportive and genuinely excited for you, even shared in your sorrow.

Our first IVF attempt was successful but I miscarried after 8 weeks. Simply devastating. A few weeks after our loss, we were lifted up by our family, friends, community, and staff of Magee, and made another IVF attempt. On March 7, 2011, I was implanted. On March 21, 2011, we were given the joyous news that I was pregnant. On Nov. 30, 2011, at 9:34 a.m., we welcomed our precious son.

There are no words to properly express our gratitude for the miracle that the staff of Magee, by the hand of God, were able to bless us with. We are eternally grateful.

 

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Stacey, Jason, Evan, and Brandon Cobb

It would be difficult to find a woman more fiercely determined to be a mother than Stacey Cobb.

A few years ago, Stacey, then 25, was preparing for her wedding to Jason Cobb. Until, a routine gynecological exam changed everything. Stacey had cervical cancer and needed a radical hysterectomy. Her thoughts turned to the children she may or may not be able to have.

Stacey and Jason were fortunate to be in Pittsburgh with access to some of the most advanced research and treatment programs for women’s cancer and infertility. Stacey’s oncologist explained that in vitro fertilization (IVF) with frozen embryo transfer (FET) to a gestational surrogate may enable her to have her own biological children after cancer treatment. The success rate is more than 43 percent for women her age.

Determined to be a mother, Stacey initiated IVF a few weeks after her surgery. Eggs from Stacey were fertilized with sperm from Jason. Thirteen embryos resulted that were then frozen at Magee for future transfer to a surrogate.

Stacey and Jason pursued adoption as well as a surrogate pregnancy using their frozen embryos. In October 2007, while traveling to Moscow to adopt 18-month-old Evan, the Cobbs learned that the FET was successful. They were pregnant at last. Brandon was born in May 2008.

The Cobbs are grateful for the innovative research and care at Magee that halted Stacey’s cancer and preserved her fertility. Some call Stacey an inspiration, she prefers to be called “Evan’s and Brandon’s mom.”