NEWBERRY — The bond between sisters Sloan O’Dell Mayer and Sara O’Dell May has grown even stronger since Sara decided to be a gestational surrogate and carry Sloan and her husband Nathan’s child after it was determined she could not have children.

Sloan was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis in 2011, just eight months after getting married, and upon learning about her diagnosis, knew that it wouldn’t be possible for her to carry a child to full gestation, which would raise health issues for both her and the child.

“We kind of knew from there that we didn’t need to try to pursue trying. We later tried adoption, but that fell through for us, so we knew that wasn’t an opportunity any more. Then, that’s when Sara approached us about carrying Willow for us,” said Mayer.

Sara and her husband Hutch welcomed their first child, Houston, in 2014, and throughout her pregnancy, her sister was able to go to every doctor’s appointment with Sara and be as involved in her pregnancy as she wanted, even going to the grocery store for Sara when she couldn’t.

“Just watching what all she had gone through and knowing that, in her heart, she had always talked about having children from the time we were small. When I found out that I was pregnant, I went through all the emotions of how I’m going to be a mama and how God chose me. Then it was, what about Sloan? I knew at that instant I could not have all of those emotions and feelings without Sloan having them,” said May.

She said her siblings had been raised to know that if one of them is down, you step in and help them as much as you can.

Sloan and her husband also experienced a miscarriage before deciding to take the road of gestational surrogacy, and although it wasn’t happening to her, Sara felt the grief that her sister was experiencing.

“I didn’t expect anything other than that from Sara. We were blessed and surprised that we were finally going to be parents, but then again, coming from Sara, I wasn’t surprised, because that’s what our parents Kim and Preacher Jeff O’Dell raised us to do,” said Sloan.

Their story has even garnered national attention: They appeared on the Today show and shared their story.

“Back in November, I was watching the Today Show and Kathie Lee wanted people to send in stories for their segment Everyone Has A Story. Willow was asleep and I thought we had a pretty cool story, so I’ll write something,” Sloan said. “I wrote something in on my phone and I sent in pictures and it wasn’t until Feb. 1 that they contacted me back. Feb. 3 they had our flights booked and Feb. 16 we were there. So, it happened so quickly that we didn’t have a lot of time to process everything.”

O’Dell said that with all the negativity in the world, they hoped their story would show that a family can unite and help each other out.

Now parents to a six month old, the Mayers are continuing to adjust to life as parents, although Mayer said that adjusting to being a parent hasn’t been too different.

“It’s been different having the responsibility 24/7. I have an eight year old niece who I’ve had the privilege of being part of her life from day one, as well as Sara’s son Houston, who is two and a half that I’ve taken in as my own as well. We’re very comfortable, so it’s really no different,” said Mayer.

“She’s a very comfortable third time mom,” said May. “God has blessed both families with more than we can handle and I think that we’re all very content, and unless God changes that plan, we’re very happy having a child a piece,” she said. “On my side, doing this was a calling for me. We were raised in a family of servanthood. It was just something that we went and did, so we appreciate everybody’s questions, but that’s not what it was for.”

Another monumental moment for Mayer and her husband came in 2013 when they knew that one day they were going to be parents.

In December 2013, Mayers’ brother surprised the couple with a hand-made toy box with “Mayer” on top of it, symbolizing the child he knew they would have someday. Mayer said that just showed the strong bond and unity all three of her siblings have with one another.

The bond between sisters Sloan O’Dell Mayer and Sara O’Dell May has grown stronger since Sara decided to be a gestational surrogate and carry Sloan’s child after it was determined she could not have children.
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_Sloan-and-Sara.jpgThe bond between sisters Sloan O’Dell Mayer and Sara O’Dell May has grown stronger since Sara decided to be a gestational surrogate and carry Sloan’s child after it was determined she could not have children. Courtesy photo

By Kelly Duncan

kduncan@civitasmedia.com

Reach Kelly Duncan at 803-768-3123 ext. 1868 or on Twitter @TheNBOnews.