My journey toward motherhood is deeply connected to the years I have spent helping others build their families. As a five-time egg donor and a professional in fertility care, I have witnessed how much hope, vulnerability, and perseverance this process requires. Helping others become parents has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. Becoming a mother myself is a dream I hold just as closely. As a lesbian Latina navigating family-building with a history of PCOS, I know that my path requires planning, medical support, and significant financial resources. I have taken steps to preserve that possibility, but there is still a distance between preserving the dream and being able to pursue it. I share my experience as a donor because it has shaped the love and intention I would bring to parenthood. It has taught me that families begin in many ways, and everyone deserves compassionate support. My partner, Mel, brings her own deeply personal experience to our journey. She previously helped raise and love children as a stepmother, only to have those relationships taken from her. She mourned both the children she loved and the future she had imagined. Through that grief, she also lost the desire to have children of her own. Throughout our relationship, that hope has slowly returned. Building a family together has become a dream we share, and seeing her open her heart to motherhood again has meant so much to us both. This grant would help us take a meaningful step toward that future; a chance to bring the love, care, and commitment we have given to others into raising a child together. Thank you for considering our story and for helping make that possibility more accessible for so many others. How we'll use the funds: IVF treatment, including medications, testing, retrievals, and/or transfer. Whatever it may cover.