Nader tells us his story

One of the things we love here at ivfbabble, is hearing the stories of brilliant men and women, who following their own mentally and physically exhausting IVF journeys, go on to create services to support others TTC, in the hope that they can save them some of the pain that they went through

Here, we learn more about Nader AlSalim, who in In 2016 started an IVF journey with his wife. After years of treatments across multiple clinics and countries, he and his wife were fortunate to have a son. Exhausting, super expensive, and full of ups and downs, Nader knew that there must be an easier journey to parenthood. With frustration and sadness, he would ask, how can you spend £50,000 and end up without a child?

In 2019, Nader set up Gaia to solve that very question

Before we learn more about Gaia, the company who provide  IVF insurance, let us just hear from Nader about what Gaia does….

“We remove the financial unknowns and provide protection throughout IVF treatment, so that you only have to pay back for your IVF treatment if and when you have a child. Our Members pay a premium to start a round of IVF, and we cover their full cost of treatment, including medication. If they do not have a child in their covered rounds, they pay no more than that. If and when they do have a child, they pay back their treatment costs in monthly instalments.”

What was your own experience of infertility?

My wife and I tried to have a baby and what we thought would be a straightforward experience, was far from it. After years of IVF treatments across multiple clinics and countries, we were very fortunate to have a child. But it was painful. Physically painful for my wife, and emotionally and financially painful for both of us. And what made it harder was that we never understood why it wasn’t working for us. We were one of the many “unexplained” cases of infertility.

How did it change you?

As someone who loves working with numbers and solving problems, there was no solution for us; no number, no answer. Each round of IVF we started, the only thing we had, was hope. But it wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to understand why we weren’t successful and what our chances would be going forward. If we were to be investing thousands of pounds into this process, I wanted to ensure that we were making the right decision to do so. But we never had that. We were never given a roadmap or a total sum of money that we might have to spend. It frustrated me and that frustration turned into a determination to do something about it.

Why did you decide to use this experience to start Gaia?

The difference between having a child or not shouldn’t be how rich you are and the system today is designed exactly like that. Most people don’t have £30,000 stashed away to pay for IVF treatment. However, a lot of people can manage affordable monthly payments with a sensible back up plan to limit their cost. We need to ensure that fertility isn’t treated as a luxury good but an accessible part of common healthcare. And no one should have to pay for IVF treatment without a child to show for it.

It’s a new company, but what are you most proud of so far?

I am proud of the feedback that we have received from our existing members. It can be daunting to create a solution that you might have wanted yourself. But to know that others have found our Gaia Plans valuable and meaningful on their fertility journeys, has shown that our hard work in creating the world’s first IVF insurance plans is not for nothing.

If you would like to learn more about how Gaia can help you, click here to get in touch.

https://gaiafamily.com/about

Gaia. The new way to pay for IVF