How One Mom Came to the Decision to Donate Her Embryos

When Amanda Fletcher was interviewed for the Winter/Spring 2016 issue of Pathways2Family, she said that one thing she had noticed about embryo donation stories is that the choice seemed to always be such an easy one for the family. She wanted people to know that in reality, making the choice to donate your embryos can be an incredibly difficult one. She wanted other families to know that they weren’t alone in that struggle.

“It’s not an easy decision, and it still isn’t,” she said. “The thought of having a child out there that I’m not raising is really hard. I don’t know if I would have done this as soon if my husband hadn’t felt that it was what God wants us to do.”

Amanda felt that for her husband, continuing the struggle of unsuccessful fertility treatments was harder than the choice to donate the embryos. Donating their embryos was something the couple had agreed on doing when they started the IVF process. For Amanda, though, she wasn’t sure she’d been ready to give them up so soon. She’d hoped to wait until her 40th birthday to do the donation, but decided that it was time. The couple donated them to another family through the Snowflakes Embryo Adoption program.

So how does Amanda feel about her decision now?

“It’s still hard some days,” she said. “I may not have gotten pregnant with him but she did, and I’m glad he has life. This kid has two families that wanted him and love him and continue to pray for him, so he’s definitely blessed.”

You can read more about Amanda Fletcher’s story and her decision to donate her embryos by requesting your copy of Pathways2Family magazine today, where you’ll also be able to read about the family who adopted Amanda Fletcher’s embryos. You can learn more about embryo donation by visiting EmbryoAdoption.org.

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