Hadwin’s New Foundation Focuses On Family
A Happy, Smiling, Maddox Hadwin Celebrated Her 1st Birthday Last Week - Image Courtesy Jessica & Adam Hadwin
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
Adam Hadwin and his wife Jessica recently celebrated the first birthday of their daughter Maddox, a day in which they reflected on not only the joy she has brought to their lives but the struggle they faced bringing her into the world.
Adam and Jessica went through many ups and downs, including two failed pregnancies, in their attempts to start a family.
With the help of in vitro fertilization (IVF), Maddox arrived on January 8, 2020. The struggles they endured and the fact they were in a financial position to use IVF led the Hadwins to think about trying to help others facing similar challenges. Late last year they started The Hadwin Family Foundation.
“Going through what we did to have our daughter left both of us very thankful we had the resources to do IVF and not have to worry about it,” Adam said in an interview with British Columbia Golf from his Scottsdale, Ariz. home.
“We both kind of looked at each other after that and thought that it seems unfair that because we have been successful we would have the ability to have a child of ours and that so many people going through similar things, if not worse, don’t have that ability.
“This foundation was formed because of that experience, the experience of building a family and having a family using non-traditional methods. Basically, we struggled having children together and we had to go through different avenues. There are a lot of people who go through this and it can be very burdensome financially and emotionally. That is a big reason why we ended up starting the foundation.”
Adam and Jessica made the decision to try and give back in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the PGA TOUR was shut down for about three months.
“Having that extra time with our daughter and being around her and seeing her grow up just kind of kept us aware of how lucky we are,” Adam said.
They also saw the impact the pandemic was having in both the United States and Canada. “People losing jobs and not being able to pay mortgages and all that kind of stuff, so we thought why not now,” Adam said. “That is kind of where it was born from.”
Adam credits Jessica with taking the idea and running with it. “Jess is the mastermind behind everything, she has been incredible in getting everything set up. We have done it all on our own -- I should say she. She has gotten everything organized and ready to go. We launched at the end of last year and got it out to the public and so we are very excited to spread the message of what we are doing.”
Jessica is writing a very personal blog on the foundation’s website (thehadwinfamilyfoundation.org) about some of the heartbreak and hurdles she and Adam faced over the past couple of years.
“She has been sharing a little bit more intimately what we have gone through and as a result of that we are hearing from more and more people who say, ‘hey, we had this happen, we experienced something similar and we ended up doing this,’” Adam said.
“It’s still a bit of a taboo topic. Hopefully, if nothing else, we can make it a little less taboo and people will feel comfortable talking about it. Part of what we are doing is to help raise awareness and share stories and make people understand they are not alone going through this and maybe potentially long term break down some barriers. That would be amazing.”
Hadwin noted that he will continue to support his long-standing charitable initiatives in British Columbia, which have benefitted the C.H.I.L.D. (Children with Intestinal & Liver Disorders) Foundation.
https://www.thehadwinfamilyfoundation.org/