Able-bodied woman who married disabled man opens up their IVF journey

‘My sperm is non-existent’: Disabled man and his able-bodied wife who spent two years trying to get pregnant ‘the old-fashioned way’ reveal they’ve turned to IVF after learning he cannot conceive a child naturally

• Interabled couple have opened up about their IVF journey to have children 
• Shane Burcaw has spinal muscular atrophy and wife Hannah is nondisabled 
• The Minnesota couple revealed Shane’s sperm count was ‘low, like less than 10’

An interabled couple have opened up about their journey to have children via IVF.

Shane and Hannah Burcaw, from Minnesota, document their life together on their YouTube channel Squirmy And Grubs, and have previously spoken about their sex life in a very candid video.

In their latest video, 30-year-old Shane, who has spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), and his nondisabled wife, 27-year-old Hannah, shared they had begun the process of IVF after they ‘casually tried the old-fashioned route for two years.’

SMA is a neuromuscular disease that causes muscles to deteriorate over time. 

Interabled couple Shane and Hannah Burcaw have opened up about their journey to have children via IVF

The Minnesota couple document their life together on their YouTube channel, and have previously spoken about their sex life in a very candid video

Shane has been in an electric wheelchair since he was two years old, and can barely move his legs, arms, and hands.

‘We’ve know for three years that the medication Shane is on for SMA can impact sperm health,’ Hannah said in the video.

‘We kind of knew that, it was in the back of our minds, so we got his sperm tested about a year ago and found out it was abysmal.’

Shane interjects and jokes: ‘Excuse me, my sperm is not abysmal… my sperm is non-existent.’

Hannah continues: ‘It’s very effected, not just by the medication. We don’t actually know how much that is playing a role, but also by the fact that Shane sits all the time, which is a huge factor. 

‘There’s heat and pressure, and all the stuff that you don’t want.’

The couple went on to explain that was why they had opted to go the IVF route and had been in the process of  ‘setting up with our IVF clinic and doing all kinds of testing to figure out the plan that will work best for us.’

Shane later reveals in the video that his sperm count numbers were ‘so low, like less than 10,’ and it was ‘normally millions.’

Shane has been in an electric wheelchair since he was two years old, and can barely move his legs, arms, and hands

‘We’ve know for three years that the medication Shane is on for SMA can impact sperm health,’ Hannah said in the video

https://youtube.com/watch?v=i79fruB7g-8%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US

Hannah said the couple was currently in the suppression phase of the IVF cycle where she was testing her ovulation.

When she ovulated she would start taking two different medications – a pill and an injection – for three days before getting her period.

She would then go in for an ultrasound that would check on her follicles.

‘The medications are just to like calm everything down, that’s why it’s called the suppression phase to prepare my body for the influx of meds, because right after that ultrasound I begin taking like the five-injections-a-day medicine,’ Hannah said.

‘That happens for like 10 to 12 days and then my eggs are taken in a surgical procedure where I am asleep… egg retrieval is the technical term.

‘Then the eggs are fertilized with Shane’s sperm, they grow for five to seven days. We see how many embryos we get and then that’s kind of the end, then you can implant or you freeze them, and there’s a whole thing.’

The couple noted during the video they posted last Tuesday that Hannah’s ovulation was meant to start the day they were filming.

Shane wanted people to know that the process had been ‘really heavy on Hannah like emotionally, physically,’ before joking: ‘I don’t know if you know this yet but after you use the little test strips, I’ve been using them as well, like kind of dipping them in my pee jar.’

Shane later reveals in the video that his sperm count numbers are ‘so low, like less than 10’ and it was ‘normally millions’

Hannah said the couple was currently in the suppression phase of the IVF cycle where she was testing her ovulation

Shane added: ‘I’m not supporting her by using her ovulation test strips. I’m supporting her with candy.

On a more serious note, he asked Hannah: ‘So now that we have officially begun, like it’s happening, how are you feeling?’ 

‘Terrified. Yeah, terrified. I don’t want to do the injections, really worried about that,’ Hannah said.

‘That’s like such a buildup, like I almost wish that I was just doing it right now.’

As for Shane, he used a metaphor to describe how he was feeling about the IVF process, comparing it to a big exam.

‘You have not prepared at all and it’s tomorrow and you know that there is no way you’re gonna be able to study all that you need to study in this one night to feel really confident about it,’ he said.

‘So you’re going into it like well I’m probably gonna do horribly. There really is no hope of an A+ and I hope that somewhere deep down inside me I can find the wherewithal to maybe [get] a C or a C+, but the test is happening and there’s nothing I can do now.’

Previously the couple answered fans’ questions about how they manage intimacy in their interabled relationship.

‘A lot of people assume it doesn’t exist,’ Hannah said of the physical side of their relationship.

‘That’s a really damaging stereotype for all disabled people when you assume that disabled people aren’t sexually active.’

She said she was feeling ‘terrified,’ adding: ‘I don’t want to do the injections, really worried about that’

Shane explained that while they have made it a point to keep their private life private, there was a lot of misinformation and stigma surrounding disability and intimacy that they wanted to dispel.

In the clip, they used the word ‘intimacy’ as an umbrella term to ‘refer to any number of sexual acts’ to keep from divulging too much.

‘When we say intimacy, we mean sex. We mean other sexual acts,’ Shane noted.

In the past, the couple has spoken about their desire to have children together, with Shane explaining in an old post on his blog that he is ‘perfectly capable of having sex.’

‘I get boners and my boners shoot sperm, so having kids is a real option,’ he wrote at the time.

One of the questions the couple answered during their Q&A was from a disabled woman in an interabled relationship. 

She became disabled when she was married, and she wanted to know how Hannah prevented injury to Shane.

Hannah admitted that she was somewhat afraid of hurting Shane when they first started dating, saying she would ask to move any part of him before doing so.

‘I remember you being like, “I don’t want to break you,”‘ Shane recalled, joking that he would tell her: ‘Just break me, go ahead.’

Hannah noted that he was ‘a lot less fragile’ than he looked, while he added that he was also very mindful’ of his own safety. 

Even after years together, he still reminds Hannah to be careful when she is putting his socks on for him.

‘Shane is very cautious about his body movements — and you verbalize it,’ she said. 

‘I pretty much know how every single part of your body can move and to what extent and to what direction. I know his body as well as I know mine now.’

Their relationship started when Hannah reached out to the writer and public speaker after watching a documentary that The Office actor Rainn Wilson produced about his life.

In the email, she complimented Shane on his sense of humor and his writing before admitting that she thought he was very cute. 

They got to know each other through FaceTime calls and text messages, and eventually fell in love.

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