A former army medic has revealed how her new fiancé helped her try to get pregnant with donor sperm after her plight to be a mum nearly killed her. Brittney Zirkle, 31, was declared medically dead in 2019 when she blacked out in hospital, and lost triplets - conceived through IUI treatment - to ectopic rupture.
She hit her head, leaving her with epilepsy, and during her fight to survive even "saw God" who told her she "wasn't ready". Despite the ordeal she persisted with fertility treatment - nearly losing her hand to septicaemia during a preparatory op, she claims. She met her now fiancé Sampson Thomas, 32, two weeks before an embryo transfer using donor sperm - and instead of "running away" he helped her.
Sampson, a school bus driver, learned how to administer injections to increase the likelihood of a successful pregnancy, and the pair grew close.
And when the transfer failed he was by her side.
Despite the ordeal, she remains determined to be a mum, and the pair are due to get married and undergo another egg retrieval in the coming months.
Brittney. from Milton, Florida, who did army deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, said: "You lose a lot with fertility. You find out who your family is but you lose your health.
"God brought us together - two people who want to be married. He can see how badly I want this.
"I stay hopeful and l think about my rainbow baby.
"It's hard mentally, physically and emotionally so I focus on what it will be like when I’m a mum.
"I keep faith hope and positivity - I'm not giving up."
Brittney joined the US army when she was 17 and claims "burn pits" - large fires used by the US army in Iraq to dispose of waste - exposed her to "environmental toxins" which Britt said left her struggling with infertility.
She was diagnosed with unknown infertility aged 20 after struggling to get pregnant with a then-boyfriend.
Brittney, medically retired from the army with PTSD, suffered with "horrible, heavy periods" and was diagnosed with endometriosis.
“At my first surgery they said 'it‘s all over everywhere' - it was at stage four, covering my bowel and other organs," she said.
In 2019 Brittney, a neonatal nurse, decided to start fertility treatment again with her then fiancé.
She fell pregnant with triplets after IUI treatment but "they were all in the wrong places - one in my abdomen and two in my fallopian tubes".
She nearly died due to internal bleeding as a result of the ectopic pregnancy and added: "On the hospital bed I saw a vision of God who told me I wasn’t ready, and I also saw my Dad who died of cancer, with a baby in his hand.
"I woke up and went in for surgery, and at this point I didn’t know I was pregnant with triplets.
"There was so much going on. I was blacking out, and having seizures.
"I found out I still had two babies in my fallopian tubes and that I had been pretty much dead from internal bleeding.
"I was diagnosed with epilepsy, from having died and bumping my head which caused a loss of oxygen."
In 2020 she had "clean up surgery" - and nearly lost her hand through septicaemia.
Brittney said: "I almost went septic because they gave the wrong medication in my IV, so I nearly lost my hand.
"Everything was a mess; my bowels and my abdomen.
"At that point they said ‘It’s up to God, there’s nothing we can do."
She did two cycles of "now or never" IVF using donor sperm and her own eggs, in 2022, and ended up with four embryos.
Brittney scheduled an embryo transfer in November 2022 - and met current partner Sampson two weeks before the appointment.
She said: "On the first date I told him I was trying to get pregnant with donor sperm and I thought he was going to run, but he said 'that’s beautiful and courageous'.
"He learned how to give me the shot, he went to every appointment, and he was at my transfer.
"I ended up losing the baby when the transfer failed and he was by my side."
Brittney said the couple are currently taking a break with fertility treatment because the Veterans Affairs organisation will cover the costs if they get married.
They plan to get married in April when they will start egg retrieval. Brittney said she still has hope in spite of all she has been through.
She said: "I've learned a lot on this journey. I’ve been sustained by God, my faith, and my dog."
Do you have a story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
