Sarah Shellenberger and her husband Scott married in 2018. They were very happy together and dreamed of becoming parents. Unfortunately, having babies turned out to be harder than they have ever imagined. So, after a number of unsuccessful ties, they decided to try IVF so they went to a fertility clinic in Barbados for egg retrieval.
“For the first round, we ended up getting one genetically normal embryo and that turned out to be Hayes,” Sarah, who works as a teacher, said. “We decided to go back in February for another retrieval while I still had as many eggs as possible.”
In February 2020, Sarah completed an embryo fertilization and was looking forward to going home to her husband who wasn’t able to accompany her because of work commitments. Sadly, once she landed in Toronto, a stop on her way home, her phone started ringing like crazy. People kept telling her how they were praying for Scott to pull through. Sarah had no idea what happened. She contacted Scott’s mother who told her that he suffered a heart-attack and was at the ICU.
Unfortunately, Scott didn’t make it. He was pronounced brain dead and Sarah decided to donate his organs, saving three people who received his liver and kidneys.
“On Friday, February 21 I had to go and say goodbye to him. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
Around six months after Scott’s passing, Sarah went to Barbados for the embryo transfer. A week later she learned she was pregnant.
“It was our biggest dream – Scott wanted to be a dad,” she told Daily Record. “In our eyes, we have these two embryos that are already created and they are our children. To me, there was no other option. They are our kids.”
It was a bittersweet moment, but Sarah was happy she now had a son who would always remind her of her loving husband.
“It feels like things are starting to look brighter and that maybe my life isn’t over and I have a purpose.”
Baby Hayes changed Sarah’s life forever. She found purpose to live and thrive. “Holding Hayes has been such good medicine for me and he has healed my heart in a lot of ways,” this mother said.
We are very sad Sarah had to go through a heartbreak. We truly hope that she and her baby boy would have a beautiful life.