OUR STORY

Hugs & Heartbeats was co-founded by Kaci McDaniel and her brothers, Matthew Cannon and Steven Cannon, after facing infertility as a result of her chemotheraphy treatments while battling breast cancer in 2015.  Infertility was a devastating diagnosis for her and her husband, Terry, as they had dreamed of a big family and could no longer do it without doctor assistance.  In 2017, Kaci and Terry began the journey of In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) in hopes of beginning their family.  But what they weren't prepared for was the expense of IVF.  With no assistance from health insurance, Kaci and Terry sought ways to raise funds to pay for the thousands of dollars in expenses that would come with IVF.  During this search, Kaci realized financial assistance was hard to come by for survivors who would need other means of support to start and grow their family.  So with the help of her brothers, they founded Hugs & Heartbeats in 2017 to provide financial assistance to cancer survivors in their journey to begin and grow their families after cancer.  Cancer can take so much away from a person, but we are fighting to give back to survivors.  Whether it be through fertility treatments like IVF, surrogacy, adoption, or fostering, Hugs & Heartbeats will be there to help along the way.  After one unsuccessful IVF round and a second successful round, Kaci and Terry were blessed with their miracle baby girl, Hannah Mae, in August 2018.  They are currently continuing their journey growing their family through fostering in hopes of having the big family they always dreamed of.