For as long as I can remember, I have dreamed of having a family. The vision of raising my child, sharing my family’s heritage, and creating a home filled with warmth, honesty, and love has always been close to my heart. Life, however, has had a way of interfering with my dream in unexpected ways. Today, as a 37-year-old mixed-race woman balancing career rebuilding, heavy family care giving, and urgent medical deadlines, I stand at a critical crossroads where my time to create a family is rapidly closing. It is on my mind every day. My path to this application has been molded by upheaval and loss. A few years ago, while living in Australia, a devastating natural disaster swept through our area, destroying entire neighborhoods and ending lives. The flood, which reached depths of 14 meters, obliterated our the home we were living in and destroyed everything we owned. We were fortunate to escape with our lives, but the trauma of losing everything in an instant was profound. Starting over however, has in some ways proven harder. I returned home to the United States with my immigrant husband Jesse, determined to rebuild from scratch. I chose a career in public service, currently working as a library shelver for the Sacramento Public Library while pursuing my graduate education to become a full librarian. While working to establish financial stability and grow a new career, my family has faced severe health crises. I am currently the primary earner for my household, supporting my mother with home care as she recovers from cancer and caring for my disabled husband. Because my husband will be a stay-at-home father and my mother—a retired teacher—is eager to provide daily childcare and support, our future child will grow up in a deeply nurturing, multi-generational home. This incredible family support structure means childcare costs will never be a barrier, allowing me to focus entirely on providing financial stability. However, the financial reality of our situation weighs heavily on me. Working and preparing for graduate school, I currently earn approximately $13,000 a year. I am on a promotional pathway that will eventually elevate my income to $50 an hour full time upon completing my credential and attaining a librarian position, but achieving that step will take a few years—years my biological clock simply cannot spare. Compounding this financial strain is a ticking medical clock and the anxious knowledge that time works against me. I have a family history of PCOS, and my doctor suspects I have severe endometriosis. Because exploratory diagnostic surgery is financially out of reach, I am caught in a reality where my condition progresses untreated. At nearly 38 years old, endometriosis and age combined mean my egg quality and reserve are actively declining. Waiting until my salary increases in a few years means losing the opportunity to bank viable genetic embryos forever and losing my dream forever. I am running out of time. Standard fertility treatment in my local area is completely inaccessible on my current wage. In Sacramento, local private clinics charge between $14,000 and $18,000 per cycle for retrieval and embryo creation, excluding $4,000 to $6,000 in necessary medications. Even regional academic centers run over $11,000 per cycle. On a $13,000 annual income, these numbers represent an insurmountable wall. This grant represents far more than financial aid; it is my only bridge to preserving my future family. Receiving this award would allow me to immediately initiate an egg retrieval cycle and take concrete steps to becoming a parent. To maximize every dollar, I plan to coordinate local monitoring in Sacramento and partner with a low-cost, high-volume center like CNY Fertility to create and freeze our embryos. Funding this cycle does not merely cover a single procedure; it creates genetic embryos that will be safely cryopreserved, securing our ability to build our family through surrogacy the moment my salary transition to librarian is complete. I have survived total loss, rebuilt my life, and dedicated myself to serving my community and caring for my family. With your support, I can take the single most vital step toward the dream I have held my entire life: becoming a parent. Thank you for your time, compassion, and consideration. How we'll use the funds: If awarded, the grant funds will be applied directly to a complete IVF embryo creation and cryopreservation cycle at our treating fertility clinic. Specifically, the grant would cover the following clinical procedures and services: Ovarian Stimulation & Fertility Medications: Injectable hormone medications required for multi-follicular growth and trigger shot preparation. Clinical Cycle Monitoring: Serial pelvic ultrasounds and routine bloodwork to safely track follicular development leading up to retrieval. Ovarian Egg Retrieval Procedure: The outpatient surgical procedure to retrieve mature oocytes, including physician fees, embryology lab suite usage, and anesthesiology. Laboratory & Embryology Services: Sperm processing and preparation. Insemination and fertilization via conventional IVF or ICSI (if recommended by embryology). Embryo culture and blastocyst development through Day 5 - 6. Embryo Cryopreservation & Initial Storage: Flash-freezing of viable blastocysts and initial tissue cryostorage fees to safely hold the embryos until transfer. And, finally, a HUGE THANK YOU to anyone willing to read this far and share in our story. I hope the best for us all <3..