Myself and my husband struggled through the difficult road of a diagnosis of premature ovarian failure at the age of 35 for me, failed IVF, moved to his home country of Italy to look into the process and possibility of adoption, and after much consideration and tears decided to end the journey of trying to create a family with children and be content with our family of 3, including our adorable dog Cosmo. 

For me personally, my dear Dad dying suddenly amid my adapting to the life and language in a different country caused me and my husband to realise that we didn’t have the energy to struggle anymore and wanted to move forward with our lives and enjoy them fully. There is something very powerful about the death of a loved one that brings you into the present moment and the reality that life can change at any moment and I discovered that for me, the people I love here and now are more important than a dream that I so dearly wanted and struggled for.

With a lot of help from our support systems; family, friends, therapy sessions with an experienced infertility therapist, and online organisations like World Childless Week and Gateway Women we are in a good place now and I have found a new way to leave a legacy through my teaching here in Italy. When I moved here and didn’t have the language one of the only options was to teach English privately. At the beginning it was a daunting idea as it was a completely new career for me, but after attending teacher training courses and gaining experience of teaching over the past 6 years I have found that I love doing it. I have a range of students from young children to adults and it is amazing to feel as I am making an impact, even it is small one on their lives. 

Kathryn

Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash