Elana Frank
To see Elana’s amazing work, follow along on Instagram @JewishFertilityFoundation.
Five sentences about me…
For more than 20 years, I’ve worked in fundraising, marketing, community outreach, volunteer recruitment, board development, and program development within the non-profit world. After experiencing the pain and loneliness of infertility and realizing how lucky I was to have had my experience begin in Israel (where it’s free), I knew I needed to help others. With the realization that cost, education, and access are tremendous stumbling blocks for this “unspoken” issue in the Jewish community, I gathered a team and we created the Jewish Fertility Foundation. I live in Atlanta, GA with my husband, 3 boys, and our fish, “America.”
Five sentences about what I've endured in the fertility realm...
All three of my rambunctious boys were born via the miracle of IVF, or as my husband refers to it “a Test Tube Baby.” Technically my husband’s right because, like it or not, that little glass tube or dish is where the magic happens. The whole thing truly is a mix of medical marvel and divine inspiration. And though I try not to imagine my babies spending their first moments of life in a glass tube, I just remind myself that they would not have been brought into this world any other way. Even with three beautiful perfect children to be grateful for, I still get sad because I’ll never not be infertile. We can never just say “hey, let’s have another.” It’ll always be a process and risk. I’ll never know the feeling of getting pregnant while on a romantic vacation or after a night of passion gone wild. And when I think about my sadness, it’s made even worse with the guilt I feel knowing it worked for me, yet for others, even this “process” doesn’t work.
One thing I wish I knew going into my fertility journey...
That it wouldn't look like I thought but that my dreams would be answered.
One thing about me that is forever changed because of my fertility journey...
That through embryo donation I got to be a mom to the most amazing kid ever but that also I got to grow my extended family.
One funny moment or anecdote from my fertility journey...
When my then 2-year-old son made me a Mother's Day Card with the words - petri dish, sperm, and eggs written in it by his teacher!
One product, practice, or ritual I adopted during my fertility journey, which I have/have not kept a part of my life...
BATHS.....bubble baths saved me then and they are a delicious way to regain my balance now.