scratched memory card contacts - must recover photos!

We are not sure how our memory card was damaged.  We were taking pictures one day, and then just a few short days later, the camera said, "write error.  No Image."  We took the card to the Walmart photo machines to see if they would read the pictures. Nothing happened. We then noticed that there were tiny scratches running along the metal contacts.  We need these photos - our first child died the day she was born, and this memory card has the only images we have of her.  We're desperate for help.  Please tell me anything you have to offer for a solution.  We don't want to send the card to another country for repair - it's too precious to send far away. All I can find so far is repair in Europe.