Dr. Sumner’s Maternity Leave: A Letter to My Patients
A letter to my patients,
It is with hope, excitement, and nervousness that I announce my pregnancy and short maternity leave beginning Jan 1st 2025.
My wife and I have undergone our own struggle with infertility over the years and after a long and grief-striken road we are both pregnant simultaneously with the unanticipated and surreal miracle of 3 babies. My wife is carrying a singleton and I am carrying twins.
It is with a cautious heart that I share this news. Cautious due to our own experience with loss and failure, but even more cautious to the emotions this announcement may bring to my near and dear patients. I know very well that not every infertility journey comes to a happy ending and to have achieved this ending is a privilege I do not take for granted.
It is not out of shame or stigma that I have kept my own infertility private from you. It has been intentional. Each and every one of your unique fertility journeys has always been my priority and I have never wanted your care to ever become about me.
I opened a fertility specific clinic many years ago, long before my own infertility diagnosis, because of my passion and expertise in fertility medicine. Over the years my friends and family have questioned why I would want to take care of fertility patients while also burdening my own infertility grief, but truthfully and wholeheartedly I have never cared about treating anything else. Fertility will always be my calling and I will continue to strive to give all of my patients the happy ending they deserve.
My wife and I are holding up the number 12 in this photo because it took 12 euploid embryo transfers, along with 3 egg retrievals, to achieve our current pregnancies. Our combined diagnosis is one of recurrent miscarriage, repeated implantation failure, PCOS, stage 4 endometriosis, immune mediated infertility, and perhaps a lot of bad luck. It also took a heck of a lot of naturopathic medicine (of course) - acupuncture, supplements, specialized investigations, and lifestyle changes to get to where we are today.
Just like I refused to give up on me and my wife, I will never give up on you either. It has been, and always will be, an honour to be trusted with your fertility. I am not going anywhere, I'll be back soon.
I will be on leave from Jan 1st 2025 (prenatal health permitting) until the end of February 2025. We have an incredible team of naturopathic doctors to support you in my absence.
Love dearly,
Caleigh