This week, a special post from one of our volunteers.
Why do I volunteer for RESOLVE New England?
It allows me to give back to an organization that has given so much to me. It also helps me get out of bed on bad days. I have been struggling with infertility for six years, and RNE has been a resource for me all along this journey. When I exhausted all cycles under my current insurance carrier, RNE’s monthly insurance call-in hour helped me choose the best plan for coverage. When I needed support regarding egg donation or adoption decisions, RNE’s discussion groups and annual conference have provided a safe place to hear from medical experts and parents who have been there.
Most of all, I am grateful for RNE’s advocacy work that gives a voice to a disease that affects 10-15% of Americans and is still largely considered a taboo topic in our everyday conversations. I feel so lucky to live in an area of the country where a non-profit like RESOLVE New England exists.
As many of you already intimately know, infertility treatments can be a grueling, lonely, disheartening process where many things feel out of your control. Rushing home to take injections, scheduling daily blood tests and procedures around work, spending hours on the phone with insurance companies – all this while you are supposed to be trying “to relax”. Believe it or not, I once had my stim injections administered in an auto showroom! When this became my “new normal”, I decided that I needed to focus on the things that I could control.
Volunteering a few days a month at RNE not only allows me to help others who may also feel isolated on this journey, it gives me the opportunity to learn more about the shifting fertility landscape. New research, resources I never knew existed, caring conversations – the support network here is wide and warm, with people who have walked in your shoes and back again.
And on the really bad days, when you can barely get out of bed, it is a place to go where you know you can make a difference for someone else who may be feeling the same way.
If you are considering volunteering for RESOLVE New England, even for a few hours a month, my advice is: Do it! It is mercifully free of any poking and prodding doctors, intractable insurance representatives, or curious auto salesmen.
And you never know who you might help along the way.
About the Author
LadySmith is a 40-something technology professional who wants to be a London theater director when she grows up. Until then, you can find her most Thursdays volunteering at RESOLVE New England’s offices in Waltham, MA.