A fairytale come true.
How V Teamer Jason Aronne used surrogacy to grow his family.
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On today’s episode of Up To Speed, we meet V Teamer Jason Aronne, an Associate Director of Account Services for Verizon Connect in San Diego.
Jason’s been a part of the Verizon family for almost 15 years, and started his career a few years after college selling cellphones in a Circuit City kiosk. He shared the story of meeting his husband 11 years ago this August. They both knew they wanted a family and understood that they had two options: Adoption or surrogacy, both of which are lengthy and expensive.
The adoption route was difficult. About a year and half into their process, the agency announced they were filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. “They literally shut their doors, didn’t answer phone calls, emails or anything,” Jason said. “We had spent a lot of money and in literally a moment it just got pulled out from under us.”
A few months later, they decided to try surrogacy. They worked with a clinic in Mexico City and managed the entire year and a half process across borders.
They’re now proud parents to a daughter and a now 5-month-old son. Jason says he’s thankful for Verizon’s parental leave and Family Reimbursement Policy, which covered some of the surrogacy costs.
“Every little bit helped, it’s a really stressful process, and just knowing that your employer has your back on it was so phenomenal,” Jason said.
