Mallory Weggemann

Credit: courtesy TFA Group

Paralympic gold medalist Mallory Weggemann and her husband Jeremy Snyder have invited PEOPLE to follow their IVF journey as they try to start a family.

When the announcement was made in March 2020 that the Tokyo Paralympic Games would be delayed, Jeremy "Jay" Snyder came home to find his wife, Paralympian swimmer and gold medalist Mallory Weggemann, curled up in her closet, crying.

"I absolutely love my career, but that day was really hard," Weggemann, 32, tells PEOPLE exclusively. Her deep disappointment wasn't just about not being able to compete. As a female athlete, she carefully plans her life events around her career, and the postponed games meant waiting another year before trying to starting a family. "I just wanted to be a mom," Weggemann says. "It was the first time in my career where I had a moment, I just thought to myself, to what end?" 

Lost time was a concern for the couple, who expected to face challenges when starting their family. Since meeting in 2011 — Snyder was a sports agent and Weggemann became his client — and marrying in 2016, they'd always wanted children, but "we both had our concerns," Weggemann explains.

Initially Weggemann feared that her spinal cord injury and paralysis — the result of an epidural injection when she was 18 — might impact her ability to get pregnant. Fortunately, that was not the case. "It's a common misconception and one that I bought into," she says. "I was terrified to ask my medical team because I didn't want them to confirm that theory."