Couple claims delayed package ruined chance at pregnancy, starting family

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Arthur Lane sits on his front porch.

Nearby, a sunlight flower is in bloom as nature capitalizes on timing. That’s something Lane knows all about.

“Everything was right,” Lane said. “Her blood tests were good. They did a sonogram and they found out there was two viable eggs.”

Lane and his wife had been trying hard to get pregnant through various means, including artificial insemination, but were not having luck.

“My first wife actually has nine kids now,” Lane said. “So, it’s obviously not the women. It’s me.”

The fact that a pair of eggs could yield twins was a dream come true.

“We were shocked to hear about the two eggs in the first place,” Lane said.

So, the couple immediately contacted their doctor. Lane said sperm was ordered from a bank in California, set to be shipped by FedEx, and the clock started ticking.

“There’s a very small window when this procedure happens,” Lane said.

Lane said his wife got a shot in the middle of the night, setting up her body to conceive for a window of three specific hours in about a day.

The excited couple couldn’t be late for their 1:30 p.m. appointment.

“We got there and they looked at us and we looked at them, and they were like, ‘We don’t have the swimmers here,'” Lane said. “We were obviously distraught.”

Lane said he was shocked because a text from FedEx the day before said the shipment would arrive to the clinic by 10:30 that morning.

To add to the frustration, Lane said a text was sent just minutes later, around 2:15 p.m., stating that the shipment was expected to arrive at 10:30 a.m. that same day – a time that had already come and gone.

WAVE 3 News reached out to FedEx for an explanation as to what happened to the delivery, which eventually arrived, but not in time to be used by the couple.

“We regret this happened, and have worked directly with Mr. Lane to resolve the matter,” a FedEx employee emailed as an official statement.

Lane said having twins is an opportunity that may never happen again, but the couple is not going to stop trying.

“Everybody says they think I’d be a great father," Lane said.

Lane is an employee at UPS in Louisville who deals with similar deliveries.

Lane said FedEx initially offered him $100 for his claim related to the situation.

FedEx employees said that is the default for claims made without specific amount requests.

Lane said the company then raised the claim refund offer to more than $300, but he’s still not satisfied with the response.

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