Hope was founded in 2019 and underwent a year of development before officially launching in 2020. After intense user research and testing, we further developed the app over the course of a year and made several updates and improvements to optimise the user experience.
In 2021, we reached out to CRITEX GmbH, the producer of the clinic software MedITEX IVF, and after only 5 months, we formed a partnership.
In 2022, the API between Hope and MedITEX was ready to be launched. Using four clinics we started our test phase, ending in June of that same year. Once this was complete, we launched a very new and more powerful version of Hope.
Since then, we work with 35 clinics all over the world and aim to improve their workflow, by making them faster, better and more profitable. At the same time, we strive to make the whole fertility treatment experience a little bit easier and more bearable for patients.
We believe in valuable products with real benefits that forge strong bonds with their users. We want their loyalty based on the quality we provide. We want them to happily choose us, even if there are alternatives. That’s what Hope stands for!
Seven ICSIs, fourteen cryos, one baby.
Children were not a major topic for my husband and me because we knew that we definitely wanted them. That was a clear matter. It was also clear that we wanted them at a later point in time.
Who would have thought that our plans would change so suddenly and unexpectedly? A few years before I met my husband, I had a severe case of appendicitis. It was so bad that my entire abdominal cavity was inflamed. I had to stay in the hospital for a few days, but quickly forgot about the incident afterward. That is, until I started to feel the after-effects: cysts, blocked fallopian tubes filled with fluid that caused me incredible pain, and one laparoscopy after another. I had a total of seven surgeries until my doctor ultimately decided that at least the left fallopian tube had to be removed. "Well," I thought, "I still have the right fallopian tube. It will be fine." Oh, how wrong I was...
I will never forget the sad look on the surgeon's face after the surgery. She sat down on the bed and informed me that I would never be able to get pregnant naturally. She had checked the right fallopian tube multiple times, and it was not capable of transporting an egg to the uterus without complications.
At first, I was in shock! It took a few hours for me to fully comprehend what had been told to me. Just in time for me to break down in front of my husband when he picked me up from the hospital. I wouldn't be able to have children, not like other people, like normal couples.
Without much thought, my husband said, "Then let's get started right now! We'll figure it out!" What a crazy guy. If he had known back then what kind of undertaking it would turn out to be...
And there it was: my first encounter with hope. "Yes, if he's willing to go through this with me, we'll definitely make it!" I thought. At that point, I didn't know how often I would lose sight of hope and faith in it on the way to our goal, how often I would curse it and declare it dead. Most importantly, how often it would catch me, comfort me, build me up, and motivate me despite all my doubts. How ultimately essential hope would be for the success of our endeavor. In the end, it was a faithful companion to me, just like my husband!
We had our first appointment at the fertility clinic in 2014. I was more excited than I had ever been before. It felt like an adventure and was associated with many positive thoughts. When the first attempt was successful right away, I could hardly believe my luck. Consequently, the fall was deep when I experienced a miscarriage.
And so, four and a half years followed, filled with excitement, happiness, disappointment, grief, fear, despair, and hope again and again. I won't bore you with the details, as we went through an astonishing 5 ICSI attempts and 11 frozen embryo transfer treatments until we met a specialist abroad who thoroughly examined me again.
"Your right fallopian tube is the problem. It is calcified and fills with fluid, which prevents the implantation of the egg. If we remove it, you'll be successful the first time." I found it to be a very bold claim, but he turned out to be right. My anger and disappointment towards my doctor, who had treated me up to this point, had skyrocketed. How could he have overlooked that? I had already mentioned my right fallopian tube to him two years earlier... I had the right fallopian tube removed as well, we looked for a new fertility clinic and found the perfect place: Kinderwunsch Valentinshof in Hamburg.
During all the fertility attempts, only the first one had "worked." I was already sure that we would have to adopt if we wanted children. But then we met our new doctor, Dr. Dawson, and hope burned like a hot and uncontrollable fire within us. She was the right one! She would help us! On the very first attempt, unlike in the old clinic, I received a call from her personally: "You're pregnant!" I couldn't believe it. After all these years...
Unfortunately, this pregnancy also ended in a miscarriage, but I couldn't be sad because, as mentioned before, hope had ignited so brightly that it illuminated my everyday life. It works! My body works! It will surely happen again, and then it will last...
Yes, it happened again on the second try. And yes, it lasted. My son is currently lying on his stomach, frustrated that he can't move forward. For this attempt as well, Dr. Dawson personally called me and shared the results. When I was supposed to come in for the first ultrasound, I ran into the biologist, Dr. Schepers, on my way to work. From a distance, he called out to me: "Mrs. Latus, it worked!!!" He gave me a hug and held me so tightly. Pure happiness! That's when I knew we had made all the right decisions. We had found the perfect clinic with the perfect doctors.
Yesterday, we visited the clinic again. We wanted to show our doctors what they work for. Neo was welcomed with such joy and so much love... No one, except for these people and other affected individuals, really knows what we went through to get to this point in our lives, and you could tell. They were genuinely happy for us!
This is where you come in. I want to share with you a piece of the hope that has given us so much strength. In the end, we went through 7 ICSIs and 14 Cryos before we reached our goal. If a seemingly hopeless case like us can make it, then you can certainly make it too. Gather every bit of strength within you and let a fire blaze, because I don't want to lie to you: You need a forceful wildfire and a hope inferno to embark on this journey and arrive safely! I want to accompany and help you. This is my way of showing how grateful I am that our little family now includes one more person.
