{"id":28745,"date":"2025-08-18T15:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T15:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=28745"},"modified":"2025-08-18T16:35:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T16:35:00","slug":"episode-214","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/education\/podcast\/episode-214\/","title":{"rendered":"Episode 214: From Pain to Purpose: Founding the Carlos Rod\u00f3n Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[275,230,229,240],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28745","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","hentry","category-emotional-support-and-awareness","category-education","category-ivf-facts","category-trying-to-conceive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Episode 214: From Pain to Purpose: Founding the Carlos Rod\u00f3n Foundation | Progyny<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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episode proves how the right platform, purpose, and lived experience can spark lasting change for those who need it most. ","episode_intro_guest":"Ashley Rod\u00f3n","episode_intro_company":"The Carlos Rod\u00f3n Foundation","episode_banner_section_intro_text":"This is Infertility is a bi-weekly podcast where we fuse narrative storytelling with experience and science to give you a new perspective on what it\u2019s really like to go through a family building journey. Each episode dives into the emotional, physical, and financial burdens carried by those who experience infertility on their path to parenthood. Be it IVF, IUI, egg freezing, surrogacy, adoption, etc., the path is never the same and it can be long, painful, and lonely. It\u2019s our mission to give those struggling a platform to be heard, a community connection, and an opportunity to raise awareness of the 1 in 6 who, for many reasons, struggle with infertility.","episode_page_title":"Episode 214: From Pain to Purpose: Founding the Carlos Rod\u00f3n Foundation ","episode_embed_code":"<iframe style=\"border: none;\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/37815970\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/ffffff\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/stats-code\/landing214\/font-color\/000000\" width=\"100%\" height=\"128\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>","episode_details":"<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Guest: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Ashley Rod\u00f3n, President of the Carlos Rod\u00f3n Foundation<\/span>\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Host:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> Dan Bulger, Progyny<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">In this powerful and personal episode, Ashley Rod\u00f3n, wife of Yankees pitcher Carlos Rod\u00f3n and President of the Carlos Rod\u00f3n Foundation, opens up about their emotional path to parenthood. Ashley shares how her dreams of starting a family were met with unexpected heartbreak, multiple pregnancy losses, and the resilience to keep moving forward.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">From the devastation of her first miscarriage to the miracle of her daughter Willow, Ashley reflects on the highs and lows of her fertility journey. Along the way, she found strength and support through her partner, family, friends, and community. Now living life as parents of three, she and Carlos founded The Carlos Rod\u00f3n Foundation, a non-profit bringing people hope through <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Willow Grant, <\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">which offers the opportunity for families to afford fertility treatment.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">Ashley shares how their foundation has grown, partnering with organizations like the Nest Egg Foundation and Columbia Fertility to make family building more accessible to all.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">This episode proves how the right platform, purpose, and lived experience can spark lasting change for those who need it most.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">To learn more or apply for a Willow Grant, visit <\/span><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/rodonfoundation.org\/apply\/\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">https:\/\/rodonfoundation.org\/apply\/<\/span><\/b><\/a>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"none\">For more information, visit Progyny\u2019s Podcast page and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.progyny.com\/education\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Progyny\u2019s Education page<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> for more resources. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, @ThisisInfertilityPodcast and use the #ThisisInfertility. Have a question, comment, or want to share your story? Email us at <\/span><a href=\"mailto:thisisinfertility@progyny.com\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">thisisinfertility@progyny.com<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Watch this episode on YouTube:<\/span><\/b>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/CCfSsklVXes","episode_host_image":22662,"episode_host_title":"Dan Bulger, Producer at Progyny","episode_host_bio":"Dan has been in the healthcare industry for the past ten plus years as a multimedia content producer. Better known as \u2018Video Dan\u2019 he has interviewed numerous doctors, patients and other experts in the world of fertility. He\u2019s also the producer for this podcast, This is Infertility and the producer behind the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/progyny\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"exc\" aria-label=\"Progyny YouTube Channel - opens in new tab\" data-uw-rm-ext-link=\"na\">Progyny YouTube Channel<\/a>\u00a0which features interviews with dozens of the nation\u2019s leading fertility specialists. On a personal note Dan\u2019s parents started fostering kids when he was four years old, and he considers himself a proud older brother to over 100 foster children.","episode_guest_1_image":28746,"episode_guest_1_title":"Ashley Rod\u00f3n, The Carlos Rod\u00f3n Foundation","episode_guest_1_bio":"About the Rod\u00f3ns: In March of 2018 we drove to our ultrasound appointment hoping to see our 11 week 6 day old baby boy. What we experience was a nightmare come true. A doctor looking over and saying, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I can\u2019t find a heart beat.\u201d Our world changed. After a successful D&amp;C we waited a few months then tried again. On Mother\u2019s Day Ashley found out she was expecting again. We were terrified, but also optimistic. The doctors seemed so as well. She miscarried our second child two weeks later. Emotionally destroyed, we gave up \u201ctrying\u201d to have a child. Months went by and Ashley\u2019s mental health deteriorated. We decided to go see a fertility specialist who assured us IVF would be our answer. We finally felt hope. We were set to start the process when Ashley found out she was pregnant with our miracle, Willow. We will never forget the hope we felt knowing IVF could be the answer. We want to provide that same hope to couples who are begging for a family after recurrent pregnancy loss, but cannot overcome the insurmountable cost that comes along with it.","episode_guest_2_image":"","episode_guest_2_title":"","episode_guest_2_bio":"","episode_guest_3_image":"","episode_guest_3_title":"","episode_guest_3_bio":"","episode_guest_4_image":"","episode_guest_4_title":"","episode_guest_4_bio":"","episode_guest_5_image":"","episode_guest_5_title":"","episode_guest_5_bio":"","episode_music_section_links":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/28745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}