In most places, high-tech fertility treatment is an option only for families with considerable savings. But in Greater Cincinnati, a few families a year get financial help from a charity called the Madeleine and Jerome Gordon Gift of Life Foundation. The program was created five years ago by a gift to the University of Cincinnati. The foundation sifts through more than 100 applications a year to select five to 10 couples for financial assistance for fertility treatment.
Couples pay part of the bill, often several hundred dollars.
The foundation pays a negotiated amount to the UC program. So far, the program has produced 12 babies. The first was Kathryn Mulhollen, born Aug. 24, 1997. Then my mom saw an article about the foundation, and I basically poured my heart out to Madeleine. The Mulhollens desperately wanted a child but didn't want to give up the house in Loveland where they hoped to raise that child.