April 23, 2024 • hometowns
Sarah Herron Gets Candid About IVF Journey for Infertility Awareness Week: ‘I Didn’t Understand It’
Sharing her story.
Bachelor Nation first met Sarah Herron on Season 17 of “The Bachelor,” and she returned to our screens for Seasons 1 and 3 of “Bachelor in Paradise.”
In September, after many highs and lows of her IVF journey, Sarah revealed that she and her husband Dylan Brown were expecting a baby boy.
Then last year, Sarah took to Instagram to share the tragic news that their son Oliver passed away shortly after he was born prematurely at 24 weeks.
After her pregnancy loss, Sarah eventually did more rounds of IVF and this time, the Bachelor Nation star took to Instagram in January to share the exciting news that she’s pregnant with twin girls.
Now, Sarah is taking to social media to spread the word about National Infertility Awareness Week with a new video.
Alongside the video, Sarah revealed, “There’s a lack of awareness of how common infertility is. 22% of couples struggle to get pregnant and many don’t feel heard because of the stigma attached to infertility.”
And in the video, Sarah shared her story, saying, “Three years ago, I knew I was ready to start building a family with my partner, Dylan. But I wasn’t expecting to be told at 33 years old that our road to starting a family was going to look so much different than I had imagined. I was diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve, which means you basically don’t have many eggs left. My boyfriend and I were daydreaming about having kids to being told I had to do IVF. It felt like the garage door was coming down on me.”
The Bachelor Nation star continued, “All of the sudden you’re this decrepit, dried-up old lady and I didn’t understand it. When I decided to share my fertility story on social media, I was shocked to see how many women, women who I had known for years and considered close friends, came forward and said that they had also gone through a fertility diagnosis or had to do IVF. I never knew. Infertility can make you feel broken, and for some reason there is still so much shame around this diagnosis.”
Sarah shared how she wants people to participate this week to lessen the stigma and spread awareness.
She said, “By sharing my story, I’ve felt an overwhelming sense of belonging and hope that this journey wasn’t going to be as scary and isolating as I thought it would be. For National Infertility Awareness Week this week, my ask to anyone who has experienced fertility struggles is to share your story out loud so that families who may just be receiving their diagnosis don’t feel that same isolation.”
We know that Sarah continuing to share her story is helping so many people — just check out the thousands of comments on her posts about her journey.