For Mr Searle and wife Rebecca McGloughlin, their children were their miracle babies.

The couple had been through four years and seven rounds of IVF before Ms McGloughlin became pregnant with son Thomas, born in December 2011; and just four months after his birth, she unexpectedlybecame pregnant naturally with daughter Lottie, who turns 2 in January.

When Ms McGloughlin's sister and her husband struggled to have their own children, Ms McGloughlin and her husband didn't think twice about helping give them the greatest gift of all, and she offered to be her sister's surrogate.

"There was never any question," Mr Searle said.

But before she was able to become her sister's surrogate, Ms McGloughlin unexpectedly died from an "incredibly rare" blood infection just a week ago on December 5. She was 37.

Now Mr Searle has bravely opened up about his decision to start a foundation called For MyBabies in his wife's honour to support and provide counselling to couples going through infertility, surrogacy and adoption.

Mr Searle believes it's what his wife would have wanted.

"For anyone who has gone through IVF, it's a rollercoaster – there's ups, there's downs, there's tears, there's laughter," he said.

"It's an extraordinary thing to do. There's this feeling that you'll never have children and every failed attempt brings you closer to that idea.

"Any child is an amazing thing but when you have a child born out of IVF, surrogacy or adoption, that kid has been loved for a very long time before it's even in the world."

Mr Searle said during their IVF journey, he and his wife noticed a gap in the support system.

"We want to establish a foundation and the idea is hopefully to raise a bit of money so we can provide some counselling to couples who are going through what we went through and what we would have been going through in six months' time," he said.

"There are couples who go through this in Australia and who don't end up with the prize that I've got, and I'm going to have two little miracles with me for the rest of my life as a result of the hard work that my wife went through and there are no words for that."

Mr Searle – who is the Canberra Capitals general manager – and his wife were both from Canberra but they met while overseas on a gap year in 1996 after finishing high school. They married in 2003.

Ms McGloughlin was remembered by family and friends at a funeral service on Friday. Mr Searle said she had been unwell a few days earlier, but in the early hours of December 4, she was rushed to hospital with severe stomach pain.

Within hours she was in intensive care and had surgery that day but tragically, she died of sepsis within 24 hours.

Mr Searle was deeply grateful to his wife's "incredible" doctors and nurses, and he praised the leadership and skills of the team at the Canberra Hospital ICU and specialists who flew in from The Alfred in Melbourne to assist. Their professionalism and communication was of great comfort to him and his family, he said.

"We knew they did everything they could. She was fighting but this thing, it just got her and it's a one in a million, it's incredibly rare."

Mr Searle said his desire to start a fertility counselling foundation was a cause close to his wife's heart.

"I know it was important to Bec. She was fantastic to her sister and I know she has supported other women in Australia that we've come across who've been going through the same thing."

"She had a good ability to listen and to relate and to help and so I know that what I'm trying to do, she'd be looking at it, going 'yeah that's a good idea'."

For more information or to donate, visit: formybabies.com.au.