Introducing Kendall Fraser – Fertility Care Practitioner Intern
20 August, 2021
My name is Kendal Fraser and I live in Emerald with my husband Ben and cat Myrtle. As of February this year, I am a FertilityCare Practitioner Intern, serving the Rockhampton Diocese and beyond!
I didn’t grow up in the Catholic Church. My grandparents were protestant missionaries and my parents raised us in a context that was particularly anti-Catholic. If I had told the person I was in my teens that I’d become a childless Catholic, teaching FertilityCare to couples she would have laughed at me. Here’s the story of how I got from point A to point B.
From the onset of puberty at 10 years old, I had a terrible time with my health. Heavy periods, intense cramping and severe chronic fatigue suddenly became my normal. When I was a teenager, I was taking at least a day off school every month, and finally went to a doctor with my symptoms around 16. I was given the pill as my only option for treatment and honestly, it never really helped.
A couple weeks after my 20th birthday, I married my high school sweetheart Ben and we set out to start a family right away. We tried for a year before I became pregnant and miscarried our first baby at around 10 weeks. In the following years, we lost track of how many miscarriages we had and my chronic fatigue hit an all-time high. Shortly after that first loss, we started the absolute rollercoaster of emotion that is trying to conceive. We saw GP after GP and specialist after specialist, with no answers. Every test came up ‘normal’ and every doctor recommended stressing less – difficult to do when you feel like your body is falling apart!
Somewhere in that blur of emotion, we decided to look at adoption and the only agency that would sign on couples under 25 at that time was Catholic Care in Sydney. Given my upbringing I was not comfortable with the idea of having to raise kids with “those idol worshipping” Catholic ideals, so I started researching the Catholic faith. It was in the midst of those difficult years that we started our journey home and found the greatest joy and peace we’d ever known. We were confirmed together at Christmas Eve mass 2016.
Somewhere in 2017, we moved to Emerald Queensland, to be near my family and it was here that a good friend told us about FertilityCare. We had all but given up hope of me ever being healthy or having a baby, but our friend urged us to give it a go and I’m so glad we did. Three months in, our FertilityCare instructor helped to identify that I was suffering from Endometriosis and PCOS and connected us with the most incredible doctors and surgeons, all of whom are faithful Catholics who have prayed with us, and supported us through our journey of health and fertility.
My journey is not over yet – even though my endometriosis is gone and most of my symptoms are managed, healing is a long and bumpy road. I may always live with pain and we may never have biological children, but we know God has different plans for us. That’s why I have been so passionate about becoming a FertilityCare Practitioner, because I know from my own experience how important it is and how life-changing it can be.
In my work as a FertilityCare practitioner I get to educate women on God’s incredible design for fertility, reproductive health and healthy, holy marriage. I work to empower women and couples with the tools to achieve pregnancy, avoid pregnancy, treat infertility and recurrent miscarriages, uncover and treat health risks like endometriosis, and build teams of dedicated medical professionals to journey with women through their reproductive lifetime. I hope to be able to offer this important service women and couples throughout our diocese. Please pray for me and the work that I do, and if you are interested in finding out more about FertilityCare for yourself or someone you know please visit www.yourfertilitycare.com.au.
