Mike and Megan Scherer started dating when they were 15. Young and in love, they stayed together through their twenties and began planning their lives together, wanting to start a family.
This was all put on hold when Mike was diagnosed with testicular cancer at 26.
“In the middle of our lives, trying to be up-and-coming young professionals, designing our dream lives, and being go-getters, we were thrown into this world of cancer - you know, surgeries, and I would have regular CT scans and X-rays, and then I had chemotherapy,” Mike says. “It was about a two-year total timeframe and Megan became my caregiver.”
Worth the wait
Beyond the physical and mental hardships that affect cancer patients, Mike and Megan took on a whole new unexpected challenge. Once Mike had beat cancer, the two were eager to become parents, unfortunately, it was not going to be a simple process.
“We wanted to start a family and it was very, very difficult because the treatments that I received also impacted our ability to conceive a child. There was an uncertainty around starting a family and expensive fertility treatments and little-to-no insurance coverage for us,” Mike says. “We did seven assisted reproductive procedures and we were blessed with Elliot.”
Elliot, their seven-year-old son, is the driving force behind the Scherers’ life. Their miracle child inspires them every day and was part of the inspiration behind their charity organization, Worth The Wait.
“…we just said, let’s start a charity, and that charity is going to be focused on young adult cancer survivors who are either wanting to preserve fertility before they go through treatments, or have family-building opportunities,” Mike says.
With a goal in mind, the Scherers launched the foundation in 2021. Since then, Worth the Wait has awarded more than 100 grants to fund family-building arrangements for adolescent and young adult cancer patients and survivors across the United States.
“We started locally because Mike was treated at The James, so we had some relationships there,” Megan says. “We have one doctor who’s an oncologist at the James on our advisory council, and then the social workers introduced us to other people, and we’re on Instagram, so people found us through there, it’s really been a lot of organic growth.”
Worth The Wait has awarded grants in 32 states, with 30 percent of the recipients residing in Ohio. While most of the Ohio recipients have been local to the Columbus area, they have also expanded into the Cleveland area.
Beyond financial grants, the Scherers focus their efforts on making Worth The Wait an educational resource for patients, caregivers and oncologists. By providing this education, the Scherers hopes that all cancer patients are informed of the reproductive side effects of their treatments.
“Only about 50 percent of oncologists are having a conversation with young people about the side effects of their chemo treatment, but, if you are in the 50 percent, or you’re advocating for yourself and looking up information online, you’ll find out, oh geez, this might impact my eggs or my sperm,” Megan says.
Worth the Wait’s grants are used for emergency preservation through freezing eggs and sperm and can aid with adoption, surrogacy, and fertility treatment. By focusing on the survivorship of their recipients, the Scherers help them plan for their future.
Strengthened by adversity
Going hand-in-hand with the philosophies of Worth The Wait, a core principle of the Scherers’ life is living with, and beyond, cancer. Having gone through cancer and fertility treatments, the two understand the complexities that come with being a cancer survivor and raising a child.
“There’s a lot of wisdom that can be gained through adversity,” Mike says. “We’re raising Elliot with lessons that we wouldn’t have raised him with had we not gone through what we went through, and sometimes we look at that and we’re like, ‘Who better to raise kids in this world today than people that have gone through this adversity and persevered, those who desperately wanted this family.”
Family time
As dedicated as they are to helping others start a family, the Scherers always make time for their own family. Having lived in Westerville for 11 years, the happy family of three is active in the community. This past Independence Day, they marched in the annual parade while promoting Worth The Wait.
“We love it here, I think there’s a great sense of community and it’s just a fantastic place to raise a child,” Megan says. “We go to Church of the Messiah down the street, and Elliot’s involved in the Westerville Cub Scout pack.”
Between Elliot’s baseball games, Cub Scout events, and piano lessons, the family does their best to stay as active as possible. They spend plenty of time at the community center, especially at the pool.
“We do a little bit of everything, we go camping, we go hiking, we like to go to beaches and travel, Elliot and I are huge sports fans so we go to a lot of local sporting events, like Clippers, Crew, and Blue Jackets games any chance we get,” Mike says. “Really, our life revolves around Elliot.”
Mary Nader is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
