Hi all! We’re Brianna and Ben.  We’re city-loving Chicagoans who met through an app (Coffee Meets Bagel) 7.5 years ago, and had our first date at Jeni’s Ice Cream on Southport Ave (try the Brown Butter Almond Brittle!).  Our lives have since become centered around our little Southport Corridor, including getting married at our favorite restaurant (Ella Elli) in 2020 …

We met back in 1999, when we were both in fourth grade. After a long friendship and an even longer courtship (including five years of long-distance dating), we got married in December 2015. As we began planning to expand our family, it became clear IVF would be our most likely path to having a successful outcome.  We are so excited …

The first night we met was at an event called “Jews and Brews” where we felt the chemistry right away. After sitting down at our table, we ended up talking for so long that when we finally looked away from each other we realized that everyone else who had started the night at our table had long since left the …

We have always wanted to be mothers but as lesbians, we knew our journey to parenthood would be different than the paths of our straight friends. We are so grateful that the CCFB/JUF grant is helping us to complete our queer bayit ne’eman b’yisrael (faithful Jewish family).  We are both deeply involved in the Jewish community and excited to raise …

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2018 at age 30. My daughter (our 1st and only child) was born in May 2017, and I found a lump while I was breastfeeding her. Soon after that, I was also diagnosed with a BRCA2 mutation, and elected to have a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. In the window between my surgery …

Thanks to the Chicago Coalition for Family Building, Kim and Jeff were proud to welcome their twins, Eve and Emilia, in 2019!

Our first due date was supposed to be in June of 2019. We had been dreaming of a family and were really, really excited when we found out we were pregnant. Our 8-week ultrasound looked good and the doctor told us our baby was strong. After we found out we were expecting, we did genetic testing through the Sarnoff Center …

We are so thankful to have heard about the Chicago Coalition for Family Building, and to have the opportunity to apply for a grant. When we learned about Katie’s carrier status and made the decision to pursue IVF, we had serious concerns about the cost. As we look to start a family, being selected to receive a grant would be …

My name is Aset and my husband is Emperor. Our fertility journey started before we even knew we were on it! We met our freshman year in college and immediately connected. At the end of our first year, we found out we were pregnant! However, that pregnancy unfortunately ended in a miscarriage. After that loss, we decided to just live …

Our journey together began in 2006, while in high school.  We were two teenagers who fell in love and dreamt about having a large family.  It has been our dream since we were kids ourselves.  After many years of dating, we were married in 2016 and have been blessed with two children.  Being parents is our greatest blessing. A few …

When I (Laura) was 35, I froze my eggs in Chicago thinking I would have an insurance policy for the future. I had to do three rounds of IVF to get a good amount to freeze. Fast forward to 2019 when I met Ed, we were engaged in 2021, and we decided not to waste time and start our journey …

When asked as a child what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always– without hesitation– responded that I wanted to be a mom. Since childhood, I have had the opportunity to travel to six countries, live in four different states in every region of the US, graduate from two masters programs, explore my identity and ambitions, and …

My husband and I have been together since college and have been married since our mid-twenties. We made our living as actors and musicians for much of our 20s and 30s, and delayed starting a family until we felt we could take on the financial responsibility of being parents. We had no idea how difficult it was going to be …

We met in 2014 shortly after graduating from our respective colleges. We lived in numerous different cities across the States and finally found home in Chicago. We got married in 2020 and were excited to start our family with the values taught in Judaism. After a year of trying to get pregnant without success, we chose to pursue fertility treatment. …

Jackie and Isaac met when we were in third grade at their synagogue. We were in the same class from third grade on. Isaac asked Jackie to go to a Coldplay concert when they were juniors in high school. Despite the fact that it was very loud and we were there to listen to the music, all we did was …

Our relationship began in June 2018 through a dating app called Coffee Meets Bagel, in what we truly believe to be an act of fate. Daniel had just moved back to Chicago to be closer to his family after living eight years on the West Coast. Julie, who had been living in Chicago for many years, was getting ready to …

Marty and Ree live in Chicago and are active in both their professional lives and personal pursuits. They are excited to grow their family and feel grateful for the opportunity that CCFB has provided them. Marty and Ree look forward to giving back to the group! Marty and Ree are recipients of the Path to Parenthood Grant from the Jewish …

We were married in 2018. The excitement of our newlywed journey came to a shocking halt when we learned we were pregnant while in the midst of a traumatic miscarriage. After some time and feeling like we were ready, the disappointment piled up with every negative pregnancy test. We never thought that our journey to parenthood would span multiple years, …

We met when we were teenagers. Fell in love in college but thought we should do a little growing up, finish college, live some life but were always each other’s best friend. Seventeen years later, we knew we obviously couldn’t go through this life without each other. And now we have been so happily married for 12 year. We had …

At age 32, I was diagnosed with two forms of breast cancer. I had minimal family history and tested negative for the BRCA gene as well as nine other genetic risk mutations. As I had tested negative for genetic markers and it is unknown what caused the cancer as well as my potential risk factors for the future, I have …

Rachel and Joe met through JDate in 2013 and immediately fell in love. A year later they were engaged and in 2015 they got married! In 2017, they were ready to begin having children. Rachel went off of birth control and could not ovulate on her own. After waiting about 7 months, the couple saw a fertility specialist who diagnosed …

We very luckily met in 2013 through some mutual friends, and happily married in May of 2016. As individuals, we are both very family oriented, and that priority has strengthened as a couple. We quickly knew we wanted to build a family of our own, and understood we would need some help along the way. Weighing all the family building …