Eric:
I’m born and raised in Ontario. I grew up in a supportive family household with my parents, grandparents, and an older brother. My parents came to Canada during the Vietnam War, making many sacrifices to provide us with a better life, which I recognized and appreciated more as I got older. Even after working long hours, they still took the time to play with us. I was particularly close with my grandmother who recently passed away. She was my biggest cheerleader and taught me invaluable lessons like cherishing the time with the people you love. I’m also really close with my brother, catching up every week to stay connected and it gives me a chance to talk to my nieces.

Career wise, I work as a therapist providing psychotherapy. What drew me into this field is my passion for helping others, and supporting them to live to their fullest potential, which is extremely rewarding for me. I have a good sense of humor (I admit, I sometimes laugh at my own jokes, haha), and I’m known for being compassionate, empathetic, and very family-oriented. I spend my free time hiking, going to the gym, woodworking, and testing out different recipes (though Nick might sometimes raise an eyebrow at my cooking). I also love spending time with our dogs, and catching up with friends. My guilty pleasures include watching anime and reality TV – I just love the drama and suspense!

Nick:
I’ve lived in the Greater Toronto Area all my life, with my mom, dad, and older brother (who’s now in the US). Growing up my parents did everything they could to give me and my brother a comfortable life. I didn’t realize the benefits of it then, but they kept me both mentally and physically stimulated, enrolling me in Kumon math lessons, art classes, swimming, skating, and summer science camps. My dad instilled in me how best to stretch a dollar, while my mom over indulged me with beanie babies, Pokémon cards, and video games.

As I got older, I became more interested in biological sciences and eventually found myself enrolled in a graduate program at McMaster University specializing in Cancer & Genetics. After dedicating 6 years (and many long nights) to my studies, I successfully defended my 300-page thesis and obtained my PhD in 2016. Just a few weeks later, I joined a lab investigating ways to improve normal blood stem cell transplants and uncover targeted treatment approaches for leukemia patients. With the same group, I’m currently a Research Associate at a major hospital in Toronto making sure the lab runs smoothly. It’s extremely rewarding for me to both contribute to the scientific and medical communities and help shape the careers of young scientists.

In my free time I love trying out new baking recipes, and retiring to the couch for a good movie (I’m a huge sci-fi nerd!). The rest of my time goes to our dogs Zuko & Kuma, and in the last few years I’ve tapped into my creative side posting videos of our antics online. From all the comments we receive, I’m glad we can brighten other people’s days too. With all this going on, I’m 100% prepared to bring home a little one and fulfill mine and Eric’s long-time goal.

Us:
We’re both very easy-going, and enjoy traveling, scrapbooking, hiking, attending music festivals, hunting for deals, spending time with family, and spontaneously dancing in our living room. We also have a LOVE for carbs, especially fried chicken, poutine, tacos and pizza (our mouths are watering just thinking about it!).

We met online in the summer of 2005 just after high school, and have been together for over 18 years! From the early days of our relationship, we’ve had conversations about what our future would look like – where we would live, our career ambitions, and the pets and children we hoped to have. We spent our first 10 years together as a long-distance couple, as our academic pursuits took us to different universities in Ontario. Despite the physical distance, our bond thrived. Over the years we made sure to spend time together, with one of us always making the 3-hour trip. Whether immersed in quiet study, talking about our days, baking, or watching shows, we cherished those moments. Since the start of our relationship, we’ve also developed a habit of keeping small mementos and souvenirs that remind us of our life together. We’ve created several scrapbooks to look back on filled with bus tickets, movie stubs, polaroid photos, small souvenirs, and keepsakes from our life and travels.

Eventually after earning our advanced degrees and establishing rewarding careers, we were able to purchase our first home – finally moving in together in 2017. We chose a neighbourhood 15 minutes away from Nick’s parents, to ensure that when the time comes our child would have loving grandparents nearby. Being raised with the same great values and culture we were exposed to was also important to us. A few months after moving in, we brought home our first dog Zuko, which was another intentional decision to hone our parenting skills. It taught us to communicate more openly and to compromise on each other’s needs. In 2019, after 14 years together, we finally got married at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Ontario surrounded by family and friends. In recent years both of our brothers have had their first child, and spending time with our little nieces has really solidified our dreams to become fathers. It brings us so much joy watching them use their creativity to play, and seeing their faces light up when they discover something new. We dream about the things we’d do with our future child, like playing in the snow, having baby play-dates, doing science experiments, and picnicing together. We also look forward to hearing their first words (would it be Papa or Dada), watching them learn to crawl and walk, and passing on our knowledge and traditions.

Our surrogacy journey so far:
Now with most of our life goals fulfilled, the final piece to complete our family is a child of our own. So far, our journey to fatherhood has been an emotional roller-coaster with many challenges along the way, but having each other’s support has kept us hopeful. In 2020, Nick’s sister-in-law graciously offered to be our surrogate as she thought we would be amazing fathers. We were blown away with this selfless gesture, but after some consultations we couldn’t proceed due to medical reasons. We’ve also had ups and downs during embryo creation. The first egg donor we found committed to donating but eventually stopped communicating with our agency. Our second egg donor, despite requiring 3x the average amount of fertility medications, nearly completed her egg cycle but was canceled by the doctor just 2 days before the egg retrieval date. Finally, with our third egg donor, we were able to produce 3 PGT tested embryos ready to go (third time’s the charm!). Despite these challenges we’re still determined to complete our family, which brings us here in search of a Canadian gestational surrogate.

Our Hopes:
We’re looking forward to inviting you into our lives, and forming a connection with you. We are grateful beyond words for your generosity, strength, selflessness and consideration in helping make our dreams of having our first child come true. During the journey, we want to make sure that you feel cared for, appreciated, and safe every step of the way; just like you’re family. We’ll do everything we can to provide support and make the process as smooth as possible, and we hope to take part in the appointments, milestones, and other big updates. After our child is born, we’re happy to include you in their lives as much as you feel comfortable. And yes, we already have a new scrapbook ready to document this journey with you!

It is said that it takes a village to raise a child, and we think we’ve formed just that over the years by surrounding ourselves with a network of positive friends and family to lean on as we look forward to becoming parents. We’re excited, grateful, and ready to start this journey together with you. Thank you for considering us as intended parents and helping us make the impossible, possible!

Sincerely,