Fertility therapy helps patients grow family

COURTESY ANNESHA BROADWATER

Dr. Matrika Johnson (left) holds baby Nuri Broadwater. Nuri’s mom, Annesha Broadwater, is on the right.

When Annesha and Will Broadwater had trouble conceiving their second child, they underwent fertility treatments.  

Luckily, Annesha worked for a company that covered the price of some of her fertility treatment expenses. However, the couple still had to pay an estimated $10,000 out of pocket for testing and other expenses.

“I had to meet my out-of-pocket [maximum],” Annesha Broadwater said. “My out-of-pocket max is like $6,000 which is nothing compared to what it actually could cost. There were some things like $6,000 was covered but the testing for me and [my husband] was not covered. The freezing of the eggs is not covered by insurance.”

Broadwater, 41, works as an operations manager for Hub International, an insurance brokerage.

Studies show Black women are twice as likely to experience infertility than white women and less likely to do fertility treatments.

The primary reason why people of color do not go through in-vitro fertilization is because of the cost.

With in-vitro fertilization, a combination of medication and surgical procedures are used to help fertilize an egg and help the egg be implanted inside of a woman’s uterus. IVF is a long process and can take several months to complete. It may work on the first try or may require more than one round of treatment to get pregnant. IVF increases the chance of pregnancy but it is not a guarantee it will work because each person’s body is different and it may not work for everyone.

“If you’re doing an IVF cycle, an IVF cycle can cost, probably somewhere between $12,000 all the way up to like $23,000, depending on what's the method of fertilization you're doing,” said Dr. Matrika Johnson, founder of Reproductive Specialists of Carolinas.

Corporations that offer fertility benefits include Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Starbucks, Amazon, Walmart, Chanel, Google, and Lowe’s Home Improvement.
Infertility is not genetic, but it can be caused by a person’s lifestyle and preexisting health conditions.  

“I think there’s also other contributing factors: obesity, hypertension, diabetes, pre-existing medical conditions, having optimal access to health care, and optimizing these health conditions prior to pregnancy,” Johnson said. “If these health conditions aren’t optimized prior to pregnancy, it is going to make it harder to get pregnant.”

Early in Broadwater’s fertility journey, she tried IVF and suffered from two miscarriages. Prior to switching to Johnson, she went to another provider she felt comfortable with.

“I went in, and it almost felt like I had a dollar sign written on my forehead like the doctor didn't even really ask me about myself,” Broadwater said. “She was like, ‘oh, you have really great benefits or whatever, don’t quit your job. She didn’t even do any kind of examination or take any kind of pictures.”  

In 2021, Broadwater started fertility treatments at Reproductive Specialists of Carolinas. This time Johnson tested the Broadwaters for everything. In November, the couple started the retrieval process and at the beginning of 2022, went through the implantation process in which sperm and egg unite and are implanted into the uterus.  
Annesha Broadwater had to do just one round of treatment before finding out she was pregnant.   

“We started with [14] mature eggs,” she explained. “We only had seven fertilized, five were able to be frozen, and we only had two that were normal. So, we had two and we chose one and that one was our daughter.” On October 3, 2022, their daughter Nuri was born at 6 pounds, 13.4 ounces.  

“One thing that I’m noticing is Dr. Johnson having this experience herself, her way of treating you is completely different from some of the other doctors,” Broadwater said. “She understands where you’re coming from. You don’t feel like another number. You can talk to her pretty much about anything because she's been there.”

Johnson recently had a daughter through a gestational carrier after a long journey of infertility.

Based on her personal experience, she encourages more families to give IVF a try.

“Most people pray that chemo works, so instead of praying that you're gonna get pregnant on your own,” she said, “why don’t you come and do IVF and pray that the IVF works?”

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