Adventurous IPs in the news!
It’s been a whirlwind the last month! So let’s catch everyone up!
In early October, Aastha Shetty from CBC News Kitchener/Waterloo reached out and asked to do a story on our search for a surrogate using social media. Something to know about Mike and I, we are normally very private about our IVF journey. While our close friends and family knew of our struggles, most of our extended family and friends had no idea we had gone through 9 miscarriages and 8 rounds of IVF since we lost our son in 2019. It took a LOT of courage for us to create a public Instagram, and we have been very careful to not use our full names for privacy reasons. So the idea of being interviewed on a news station where they would print our full names and city was completely terrifying. Although this journey is our private life, by virtue on my job, I also had to clear the story with the College of Psychologist and my university employer as I have to be careful with my public image. We also had to consider any risks to our personal lives by going so public with our story.
So after much deliberation, and approval(and support!) from both the College and my university, we were set to do the interview! Aastha arrived at our house, set up in the backyard and before we knew it- the interview was over! She came in to meet our cats and get some fun shots of us. Funny side note, Isabel was shaved the week prior as she had become matted, so she was naked for the photos! If you watch the CBC video, you will see we put her in a sweater. We waited a week, and the story came out on the radio and in an online story (see links below). We got some good feedback from the surrogacy community (e.g., ask reporters to not use “surrogate mother”) that we were able to pass along to CBC and they were very receptive. We gained some followers on Instagram, but overall the feedback was mainly positive and none of our worries came to fruition. And we thought that was it…..
Then a couple weeks later we get another message from Spencer Turcotte at CTV news Kitchener/ Waterloo. They wanted to cover our story as well! This time, we were ready to go. Spencer told us that he would come over in the morning, and by 6pm our story would be on the news! Sure enough, he came over, interviewed us in our home, and then spent some time getting to know us and taking “B reels” (i.e., fun videos of us). We were able to share some items that we are holding onto for our future child, like a stuffed animal, some onesies (NHL branded, of course!), and a blanket I crocheted last winter. The CTV story aired that evening and shortly after the online story was published. And we thought that was it…..
Then a week later we get a message from Mike Farwell of AM 570 Kitchener/ Waterloo and wanting to interview us for his radio show! Both previous interviews had been recorded but this was our first LIVE interview! We prepared together, and had a great time on the show (despite it being the morning after the shocking US election). That radio showed aired Wednesday November 6 at 10 am and the CityNews article followed shortly after.
The privilege of speaking to the media and helping educated people about surrogacy has not been lost on us. We feel so honoured to have had these opportunities to not only share our story, but talk about the amazing surrogacy community at large. We hope that we have represented you all well.
Upon reflection, we had a lot of anxieties going into these interviews. However, they have opened up a new way for us to share our story and talk about the wonderful people we have met along the way.
If you want to read or watch our news stories, see the links below:
CBC Kitchener/Waterloo
CTV Kitchener/Waterloo
https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/guelph-ont-couple-using-social-media-to-find-surrogate-1.7086250
CityNews/Mike Farwell Show
https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2024/11/06/guelph-couple-turns-to-social-media-to-help-grow-family/
https://kitchener.citynews.ca/podcast-episode/the-mike-farwell-show-november-6th-2024/ (start at 37:31)
