Cassie and Brady Staigh had been trying to have a baby for about three years when they finally decided to seek help.
The Regina couple were referred to a special clinic in Saskatoon and were told that in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment was their only option apart from trying on their own.
After being put on a wait-list in 2018, the COVID-19 pandemic further delayed the treatment as fertility clinics across the country were shut down.
It took multiple trips to Saskatoon from Regina for testing, ultrasounds and injections before the couple got pregnant. They welcomed their first child in June 2021.
“It’s definitely stressful just because there is like a lot of … unknown,” said Cassie, 28.
Besides the physical and emotional stress, the process also took a big financial toll on the Staighs, as they ended up spending upwards of $15,000.
“We got lucky with ours for the first time,” said Cassie. “If we had to do it again, I feel like again, it’s … a stressful financial burden.”
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Coverage for IVF treatment — where eggs are removed from a woman’s body and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory before being implanted back into the womb — varies across Canada, with seven provinces offering some form of financial assistance.
Yet there are still barriers to getting timely and affordable care, advocates say, with long wait times and limited health-care options.
Many, like the Staighs, have to travel out of town or to different provinces to get help.
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Across Canada, there are about 35 fertility clinics that perform roughly 20,000 cycles of fertility treatment in a year, according to Dr. Sony Sierra, CFAS president.
She told Global News there is an increasing demand, with more Canadians seeking fertility care each year.
“We are under-servicing a huge population of Canadians who actually need this care,” said Carolynn Dubé, executive director with Fertility Matters Canada.
“There is a significant need and we don’t have enough clinics to support the need that exists.”
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The problem is not unique to Canada, but is affecting people globally.
A new report released by World Health Organization this week found that roughly one in six people worldwide are affected by infertility in their lifetime, which can have “devastating consequences.”
WHO defines infertility as a disease in men or women who are unable to get pregnant after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sex.
The report said most countries have “inadequate” policies and services, with challenges accessing quality interventions to prevent, diagnose and treat infertility.
“The sheer proportion of people affected show the need to widen access to fertility care and ensure this issue is no longer sidelined in health research and policy, so that safe, effective, and affordable ways to attain parenthood are available for those who seek it,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement with the report’s release on April 4.
Why is fertility declining in Canada?
Canada is considered a low-fertility country and its fertility rate has been declining over the past decade.
The latest Statistics Canada data from 2021 reported a fertility rate of 1.43 children per woman that went slightly up after a steady decline since 2009.
Fertility rate is an estimate of the average number of live births a female can be expected to have in her lifetime, according to StatCan.
Canada is considered a “late” childbearing nation, which contributes to the infertility rate in the country.
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In 2021, the average age of mothers at the time of delivery was 31.4 years old.
Advanced maternal age with couples delaying their plans to have kids is the most common reason for people seeking fertility care in Canada, said Sierra.
“Childbearing is being delayed and therefore rates of age-related infertility are naturally increasing,” she said.
In fact, across Canada the number of women and patients accessing fertility services for egg freezing doubled in the last year, Sierra said.
2:10 More women freezing their eggs to delay having children
The reproductive window gets shorter in your mid- to late 30s, said Dubé.
“So what’s happening is people are finding out that they have an issue with their fertility when they start to try.”
With the disease affecting millions of Canadians, Dubé said Canada needs a federal policy to address this “health crisis.”
“We believe that everybody has a right to parenthood and that we can do a better job here in supporting what that looks like for Canadians and people who live here.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
