1. The Gift
Of Life
Sharing Her Good Fortune
Allows a Nellis Couple Reason to Hope
By Lisa A Stark
I
t’s a packed house at Opportunity Village, the venue Sher Fer-
tility Las Vegas uses for its educational events. On this night,
hundreds of Las Vegas couples are here, pinning their hopes of
having a baby on the luck of the draw. All wishing the same wish —
that their name will be called.
Dr. Geoffrey Sher reaches into the giant baby bottle and pulls
a name. Sher, a renowned fertility doctor who draws patients
from all over the globe, donates a free in vitro fertilization
cycle at seminars around the country. For many in the audi-
ence, winning the free cycle is the only chance they have to get
a treatment they desperately need. In Nevada, most Insurance
plans do not cover IVF. And, at $12,000 a shot, the cost is out
of reach for many.
U.S. Air Force 1st
Lt. Mick McGeorge and his wife Jennifer are
among the hundreds waiting to hear the name Sher will call. Jenn is
still numb from news she received a few days ago. Mick, a guy who
doesn’t scare easily, was terrified.
“My palms were sweating, my heart was racing,” says McGeorge.
“I have been in combat and was never this nervous.”
Sher calls out the winner, “Samantha Thomas!”
Stunned, Thomas stumbles up to the podium.
The McGeorges are devastated. Another hope dashed. Another
painful setback. More grief and disappointment in what has been a
string of stinging defeats in their quest to have a baby.
“It is not rational,” Jenn says, “but when someone else wins you
are angry. I kept thinking: ‘When is it my turn?’ ”
Thomas, meanwhile, is shocked and confused. She knows about
devastation and climbing back up from the deepest, darkest hell.
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think

2. Life after Loss
Flash back to a year ago: Thomas and her husband Hector are at
a hospital in Australia holding their dead baby. Gabriel Thomas was
born still at 32 weeks. The Thomases learned of structural abnor-
malities in the fetus at their 20-week ultrasound. Testing revealed
a rare genetic disorder. But they decided to keep the pregnancy and
fight for their baby’s life.
After eight months of gestation, however, Samantha’s blood pressure
skyrocketed. Doctors had to induce labor and Gabriel was not ready.
“The hardest part was being surrounded by moms with healthy
babies,” Thomas says. “We would walk down the hall and see fami-
lies celebrating their newborns. We were happy for them, but our
hearts were broken.”
But, as they say, what does not beat you will make you stronger.
The experience emboldened the Thomases and gave them the cour-
age to try again.
“We view life as a gift,” says Thomas. “A healthy baby is a miracle.”
And a miracle came their way. Ten months after losing Gabriel,
Elijah was born.
“Right after I gave birth, I asked Hector, ‘Is he alive?’ The entire
pregnancy we were on edge, expecting something to go wrong. Now
that he is here and healthy, we are in awe of him.”
After Elijah’s birth, the Thomases moved to Las Vegas. They had
eight remaining embryos they wanted to use in hopes of getting
their son a sibling or two. They went to the Sher seminar to learn
more about IVF. When her name was called, Thomas knew right
away that she had to give this incredible gift back.
“In the car that night, I said: ‘I wonder if there is a way I can give
my free cycle away?’ ” she says.
And when she met with Sher, that is what they both agreed to do.
“I was happy to give away the cycle to another struggling couple,”
Thomas says. “Maybe my story could inspire them.”
“Food for the Soul”
The McGeorges were in desperate need of inspiration. At 26, Jenn
had just been given the horrific news that she would never give birth
to her own genetic child.
She was in the middle of an IVF cycle with Sher when the doc-
tor delivered the news. He told her she had no follicles (early
eggs) growing. She had gone from diminished ovarian reserve to
1 Lt. Mick and Jennifer McGeorge with Sher Fertility Office Manager Sharon Jochman
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3. depleted ovarian reserve. She was in premature menopause and
had zero eggs left.
“As a woman, I felt stripped of femininity. I felt empty,” says Mc-
George. “We sat around all day and cried.”
In their darkest hour, the McGeorges held onto hope, thanks to a
doctor who inspired them with his kindness.
“When Dr. Sher told me about my cycle being canceled, he
started crying,” says Jenn. “He said I am sorry your appointment
is late. I had to sit here and think of how to tell you.”
“Every single patient mat-
ters to him,” says Mick. “We
have never had a more com-
passionate, more dedicated
doctor. Same for the staff.”
For Sher, giving is part of
who he is, part of a culture
he has infused at all of the
Sher centers.
“Food for the soul” is how
Sher describes these philan-
thropic donations.
“When you see as many peo-
ple as I do, who are desperate
but can’t afford a treatment
they medically need, you are
inspired to do what you can to
help them,” he says.
Sher’s hope is that other IVF
clinics around the country will
follow his lead.
“If only every program could
donate a few IVF cycles a
year,” he says, “we could make
a dent. Ninety percent of the
people who need IVF to have
a child never get it, primarily
because of the cost.”
Through Sher Fertility Insti-
tutes’ eight clinics nationwide,
hundreds of IVF cycles have
been donated. At roughly
$12,000 per cycle, it equates
to millions of dollars in fertil-
ity philanthropy. And besides
the IVF donations, there is Sher Fertility Rescue, which enables can-
cer patients to preserve their fertility prior to chemo for free.
“I am addicted to the feeling of giving,” Sher says, “of seeing the
joy it brings others. Giving is also a morale booster for our staff.
Care is better, performance is better; it all flows from the good feel-
ing derived from giving.”
Sher’s philanthropic inclination began when he was a high-risk
OB-GYN in Reno in the ’80s. Through Washoe Medical Center, he
led an effort to improve the birth outcome for the indigent popula-
tion by donating his services.
In the ’90s, before founding Sher Institute, his IVF centers in Califor-
nia donated one free cycle for every 10 they did. Couples awarded a free
cycle were asked to serve on a committee that chose future recipients.
Sher also started and still is a founding board member for a
national nonprofit called The International Council on Infer-
tility Information Dissemination, or INCIID. It has a program
Sher created called “Inside the Heart,” which donates free IVF to
couples in need.
When Sher met with Samantha Thomas, they agreed to re-donate
her free cycle since she had just given birth.
“She felt badly that she had won the cycle,” Sher says, “and was
not only willing but relieved to give it back.”
True to form, Sher then offered to give Thomas a free frozen
embryo transfer, or FET, so she could try to produce a sibling
for Elijah.
“Dr. Sher has a very big
heart for what he did and
does,” says Thomas.
Holding on to Hope
Sher has been helping pa-
tients go from infertility to
family for more than four
decades. He opened the first
private IVF clinic in the U.S.
in 1982 in Reno. Since then,
he has been influential in the
birth of more than 20,000
IVF babies.
One of them was born 16
years ago to Staff Sgt. Mark
Thomas and his wife Justene.
Thomas is a soldier in Mc-
George’s platoon. McGeorge
told Thomas about struggling
to have a child.
“Infertility is a part of my
life every minute of every day,”
says McGeorge. “The hardest
thing for me is that I can’t do
anything to help Jenn. I am
powerless, which, for a guy
like me, is hard to accept.”
On Thomas’ advice, the
McGeorges went to see Sher.
After testing, the doctor con-
cluded that Jenn had Dimin-
ished Ovarian Reserve and
needed IVF right away. Then
came the canceled cycle and
the heartbreaking news. She would need a donor egg.
That meant Mick’s sperm would be used to fertilize an egg from
another woman. This anonymous donor would have to be paid,
raising the cost of the IVF from $12,000 to $30,000 — a sum that
would take the McGeorges years to amass.
Jenn was depressed. And angry.
“I hate to think I have to send my husband to war to afford an egg
donor before I am 30,” she said.
But fate was finally on their side. Just 24 hours after learning
that her cycle was canceled and she would need an egg donor, she
received the gift of a lifetime.
The phone rang and the Sher Fertility number appeared. Jenn,
home alone, thought someone was calling to check up on her. But
when she picked up, Sher office manager Sharon Jochman told her
she had good news and to conference in Mick.
Samantha Thomas and baby Elijah
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4. Sharon then told them that they had won the donated cycle
Thomas had given back. The clinic did a re-draw and the McGeorges
were picked.
Mick was at Nellis Air Force Base when he heard.
“I fell to the ground and started crying,” he says. “It reignited my
faith that everything was going to be OK.”
“It was validation that prayers are listened to,” says Jenn. “I in-
stantly felt like 100 pounds was lifted off my back. We were the hap-
piest we have been in so long.”
Now the plan is to move forward with an egg donor cycle in Oc-
tober. Mick deploys to Afghanistan in November, so they will likely
wait until he returns to transfer. They are optimistic and grateful.
“We know Dr. Sher and his team will do whatever it takes to get
us where we need to be,” says Mick.
“I want to thank the woman (Thomas) who gave back the cycle,”
says Jenn. “And, of course, we thank Dr. Sher and the Sher staff.
They are wonderful. Everyone knows my name. I have never felt like
a number here.”
Through their experience, the McGeorges have discovered a
passion for infertility activism. Mick hopes to start a nonprofit
when he gets back from his tour to help military families af-
ford IVF. Jenn blogs on a regular basis, sharing her innermost
feelings about her infertility. Mick’s commander and soldiers
read her blog. And he feels reconnected to his wife through the
power of her words.
“I look forward to reading it when I am in Afghanistan,” he says,
“because I know it will inspire me. I personally challenge anyone
who sees infertility as a stigma to read Jenn’s blog.”
“You will get more support than you ever thought you
could,” adds Jenn. “By sharing your feelings, by saying, ‘I am
infertile’, you build closer friendships, and your family under-
stands you better. If I can help one person by sharing my jour-
ney then it is worth it.”
The Thomases will also be doing IVF with Sher in October. They
want to give their remaining embryos a chance of life, and provide
Elijah a sibling.
“I think it makes you look at life differently,” says Thomas.
“We are thankful for the smallest things. I think the best
part of watching Elijah grow is seeing the new discoveries he
makes every day.”
Thomas hasn’t personally met Jenn McGeorge. Perhaps they will
connect when both are in cycle at Sher in October. If they do meet,
Thomas would offer these words of hope.
“I would tell her to keep her dream alive; have faith and courage.
Don’t be afraid to try with everything you can to have a baby. The
gift of life is such a precious gift.”
Thomas with Dr. Sher and Dr. Mark Severino the night she won the free IVF cycle
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