Hi, we’re Nasir and Luke. We have been married for 11 years, and after more than a decade of building a life together, we are finally taking the biggest and most meaningful step of our lives: trying to become dads. Our path to parenthood looks a little different. As two men, having a biological child requires an egg donor, IVF and embryo creation, a gestational surrogate, medical care, legal support, and an entire team of people willing to help us create our family. After spending a great deal of time researching our options, we decided to pursue gestational surrogacy in Colombia. Our complete surrogacy program will cost approximately $74,000 USD, and there are additional expenses for travel, legal documentation, insurance, and eventually bringing our baby home to Canada. We knew becoming parents would require sacrifices, and we have been saving and contributing as much as we can ourselves. But our financial circumstances have made this journey particularly challenging. Luke became permanently disabled following a car accident and now has a limited income. As a result, I carry most of the financial responsibility for our household. We are a regular middle-class family trying to find a way to manage an extraordinary cost because the thing waiting for us at the other end means everything to us. For me, becoming a dad also represents something I once wasn't sure would ever be possible. I grew up in Pakistan in a Muslim family before building my life in Canada. I became the first person in my family to openly marry someone of the same sex. Getting here meant navigating cultural expectations, difficult conversations, questions of acceptance, and ultimately finding the courage to build the life that felt true to me. Today, Luke and I have been married for 11 years. Now I hope to cross another milestone I never imagined growing up: becoming a gay dad. There is something incredibly emotional about realizing that a life I once struggled even to imagine could someday include Luke and me holding our own baby. And we don't want to keep waiting. Luke is now 49, and after 11 years of marriage, we feel that this is our time to become parents. We have decided that even though the financial mountain in front of us is intimidating, we are going to climb it. Why we're raising $25,000 Our fundraising goal represents only part of the approximately $74,000 USD surrogacy journey that we are undertaking. Funds raised will help us with the family-building expenses involved in our journey, including egg donation, IVF and embryo creation, fertility procedures, gestational surrogacy, pregnancy-related support, legal expenses, travel between Canada and Colombia, and other costs associated with safely bringing our future baby home. We will continue contributing our own savings and income toward the remaining expenses. We're not asking others to make this dream happen for us. We're asking for some help carrying it. Whether someone contributes $10, $25, $100, or simply shares our story, it moves us a little closer to the day when this fundraiser is no longer about trying to become parents, but about introducing everyone to the little person who made this entire journey worthwhile. Someday, we hope to tell our child the story of how they came into this world. We will tell them about two dads who wanted them long before they existed. About the people in another country who helped bring them safely into the world. About family, friends, and even strangers who believed that families can be created in many different ways. And we will tell them that people who had never even met them helped their dads bring them home. If you choose to become one of those people, thank you from both of us. After 11 years of building our life together, we're ready to build our family. With love, Nasir & Luke