Bring Baby Alba home to Australia from Ukraine

Hello, we are Sarah and Kara, and we started this fundraiser hoping to raise funds for our dear friends Jessica and Kevin, to bring their daughter Alba home from Ukraine.

Sweet baby Alba was born prematurely via gestational surrogacy in Ukraine on 22 February. Jess and Kevin immediately booked their flights to travel to Ukraine to meet their daughter and be by her side in neonatal intensive care (NICU).

However, due to the conflict in Ukraine, their entry into the country was suddenly cancelled, leaving them stranded in Dubai Airport.
Jess and Kevin then spent the next several weeks traveling through Europe trying to find a way to meet their daughter and bring her safely home.


We are now so happy to report that after a lengthy stay in Ukraine, and a difficult journey into Moldova , the family are now in London while Alba continues her specialist care in hospital and grows stronger every day. They hope to return home to Australia as soon as possible, but are still faced with many challenges.


Jess and Kevin are both hard working Chef's from Melbourne and have saved incredibly hard to fulfill their dream of becoming parents. They have been together for 20 years, and after suffering for 7 long years of primary- infertility, multiple IVF rounds, surgeries and specialists they began their surrogacy journey and made the decision to employ the help of a surrogacy agency in Ukraine.

We know accepting money does not come easily to them, but under these extraordinarily exceptional circumstances, easing the financial burden of the multitude of unforeseen costs that are a direct result of the impact of the war in Ukraine, will go a long way to helping their little family.

We are hopeful that with your help, Jess and Kevin can bring Alba home to Australia. As this situation is constantly change, it is not yet known logistically how this will happen but we have outlined some of the potential costs we can foresee.


· Accommodation for Jess and Kev while they make arrangements to reach / or have someone reach Alba in the Ukraine

· Medical Evacuation for Alba which will likely need medical support Accommodation in a neighbouring country for Alba

· Medical expenses for Alba in another European country which will be out of pocket

· General living expenses as this evacuation effort is likely to take several weeks longer than their initially budgeted trip

· No income from not being able to work for this extra duration



Some important facts to note about Jess and Kev's surrogacy journey:

Alba is Jess and Kev's genetic baby, she started as an embryo in Australia and was then transferred to her beautiful surrogate mother in the Ukraine. Jess and Kev are Alba's parents genetically and on her birth certificate.

Jess and Kev came to the decision of using a Ukrainian surrogacy program after a lot of careful consideration, including the legality, wait times in years, ethics and costs.

Jess and Kevin began their surrogate journey in April 2021, when the Ukraine was a safe country and well before any of us were aware of the deteriorating situation



Thank you from the bottoms of our heart for your support.
Jess and Kevin are incredibly grateful for all the support they have received so far and hope to share happier news with you as soon as possible


UPDATE: Hello everyone! We just wanted to add an update here to say a massive thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The love and generosity you have shown Alba, Jess and Kevin has been a great source of strength for the family and they are overwhelmingly grateful.

We have decided to raise the target now to $50 thousand to reflect the magnitude of the costs ahead for Jessica and Kevin.

Thank you all again, we know this situation touches many of you and is very difficult for all involved. Your support means more than words

Love Sarah and Kara Xxx




Update:

Since the last update Jess, Kev and Alba have made it out of Ukraine!

After leaving Poland, Jess and Kev made their way to Moldova via Romania, where they were able to base themselves before making the move across the Ukraine border into Odessa.

Under the guidance of their surrogacy agency, they made the dangerous move and crossed the border. Finally meeting their precious baby girl Alba for the first time.
While in Odessa, Jess and Kev maintained a daily ritual of visiting Alba’s hospital and managing a difficult language barrier. Frequently throughout the days and nights Jess and Kev would need to take shelter in their laundry as the air raid sirens sounded across the city, and on several occasions they also heard the terrifying sounds of explosions.

After spending nearly 3 weeks in Ukraine, the trio were safely medically evacuated into Moldova and into a Neonatal intensive care unit in Chisinau. Alba continued to gain her strength, but with still a lot of recovery ahead of her she was then medically evacuated to a specialist hospital in London.

Jess, Kev and Alba are now staying in London as they navigate their new lives as NICU parents of a preemie baby.

They are so grateful to everyone who has helped to assist them along the way.

Jess and Kev hold Odessa and Ukraine in a very special place in their hearts and they urge everyone to continue to keep Ukraine in your thoughts.

Their surrogate mother is safe and well, she is their guardian angel and is a very special person to them. They are bonded for life and Jess and Kev hope for her and her family's ongoing safety.

Right at this moment, the true nature of Alba’s medical costs, medivacs, and living expenses are not yet fully known.
However in time, Jess and Kev would like to share how powerful and enabling the fundraising has been and the significant difference it has made to them and to Alba.

Alba has a long road ahead of her so please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

You can see our past updates and any future ones at instagram Bring.Alba.Home https://www.instagram.com/bring.alba.home/?hl=en

Thank you again to each and every one of you who made donations and left messages of support, your generosity is uplifting and has made a crucial impact.