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Suffolk couple trying to complete family after overcoming lupus, stroke and cancer

Posted at 10:45 PM, Feb 09, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-10 16:33:59-05

Suffolk, Va.  - Ashley Hayes says she went in for a routine doctor's appointment last year and came out having to make a life changing decision.

"It was,  'Do we fight the cancer and survive or do you try to have a baby and die?" Ashley explained.

It was the hardest decision Ashley says she had to ever make, which says a lot considering the health battles she has had to overcome in her young life.

"Diagnosed with lupus at 12, had a stroke at 25, this was in November 2013 and then just before we went into January 2015 she got diagnosed with cervical cancer," said Ashley's husband Boyzie.

While cervical cancer was the scariest diagnosis Hayes says she ever had to go through, she says when the doctor broke the news, she only had one thing on her mind.

"My first question was will I be able to have kids?"

The couple had been planning on having a family for years, but the doctor had another bomb to drop.

"I said well what if we try [to get pregnant] right now what if we try right now? And he was like you won't make it to have the baby."

Instead of dwelling on the bad news, Ashley decided to have her eggs frozen immediately so that when she got healthy could have a child. It took five months, but Ashley is now finally healthy. However, there is now another obstacle the couple has to overcome, the price of finding a surrogate.

Which is why the couple created a GoFundMe page.

Our goal is set at 10, 000 but even if we could get to a thousand that would cover the freezing.

Ashley and Boyzie say they didn't want to create the page, but see it as their only way to finally have their dream of a family.

"It's unbelievable so when things happen to you, all you can do is believe and just like in this process," she said. "All I can do is believe that we will have our baby."