In Search Of…A Friend Indeed (Part 1) 5/14/10
Reported by Jennifer Livingston
Email:
jlivingston@wkbt.com
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/nc8jennifer
As Cindy McIntosh and Tiffin Ivens look through yearbooks and memorabilia of their high school days together, one
letter from Tiffin to Cindy more than 15 years old holds a bit of foreshadowing. “I want you to know that I will be
there for you if you need a thing.”
If you need a thing.
The Waukesha, Wisconsin natives have always had a special bond. “Everything we did together was always just a
blast.”
But like so many high school friendships, after graduation, they headed in two different directions. “Cindy moved
me up to Madison. I dropped her off and I cried the whole way home.”
As time went by, Tiffin moved to La Crosse, got married and started a family while Cindy stayed back in
Waukesha. “If I’d come into town, we’d go out to lunch. And we’d pick up right where we left off.”
And then a few years ago, Cindy met the man of her dreams. “It was love at first site. Literally.”
Cindy and her husband Tony decided to waste no time in starting their family but after a year of trying and no luck,
they sought out the help of a fertility doctor. Meanwhile, Tiffin’s family kept growing. “Even though she was going
through what she was going through, she never turned her back on me as a friend or on my family. That meant a lot
because I knew how hard it was.”
And Tiffin never turned her back on Cindy either. After every disappointment. After 6 failed procedures. “I had
my best friend there to pick me up every time something didn’t work. I would call her and she would listen.” “It was
so painful to keep watching her go through it time after time.”
Eventually a doctor was able to determine what the problem was and the news wasn’t good. “He found out that I had
a high number of killer cells in my body that prevented me from getting pregnant.” Cindy had no chance of carrying a
child. “It was heartbreaking. You want a family. You’re with the man of your dreams. And you just want children. And
you get the door slammed in your face every time you go in for an appointment.”
But despite all that. Despite the countless tears and the dwindling options, “I knew that I was meant to be a
mother. Somehow.”
It’s a funny thing about best friends. They would do just about anything for you. And remember that letter from so
long ago? “If you need a thing.” How true that was about to become.
**We hope you watch next Thursday on NewsChannel 8 at 6 to hear the second part of this amazing story!**
COPYRIGHT 2023 BY NEWS 8000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
