Hello, my name is Anahita.

I am a former United States Agency for International Development (USAID) employee and served as a Humanitarian Officer. In that role, I worked to support vulnerable communities facing conflict, disasters, and displacement. My work involved supporting emergency relief operations, coordinating life-saving resources, and helping strengthen access to food, clean water, shelter, healthcare, education, and safety for people who had lost everything.

Humanitarian work requires empathy, resilience, and a deep commitment to protecting human dignity. It was an honor to serve America in that capacity.

Unfortunately, 2025 was not the year I expected.

In April 2025, I lost my job when my agency was dismantled. Overnight, I lost not only my career, which I had dedicated years of my life to, but also my income, my sense of stability, and the professional community I loved.

Since then, I have been actively searching for a new job, but the transition has been far more difficult and prolonged than I anticipated. During the remainder of 2025, I exhausted my savings, and the unemployment support I received from the DC government ended in late October. Over time, I found myself relying on credit cards simply to cover rent, groceries, and essential bills while continuing my job search.

I originally created this GoFundMe in December 2025, during one of the hardest moments of my life, when I truly felt like I was hanging on by a thread. The support I received meant more to me than I can fully express. It gave me the breathing room and stability I needed to move into 2026 and continue trying to rebuild my life. Reaching my initial goal felt like a lifeline, and at the time, I truly believed I would be okay by now.

Unfortunately, the reality of the current job market has been very different.

Since January 2026, I’ve continued my job search every day, applying, interviewing, networking, and doing everything I can to move forward. But like many former USAID colleagues, the transition lasted far longer than I ever expected.

Over time, that uncertainty started affecting me in ways I never anticipated.

The prolonged stress began impacting my health. I developed a thyroid condition, along with serious dental issues caused by prolonged teeth clenching. What started as emotional stress slowly became something physical that required urgent care and brought significant, unexpected medical expenses.

At the same time, I was carrying something deeply personal that made this period even harder.

My immediate family lives in Iran, and the conflict between the U.S. and Iran has directly affected me emotionally and mentally. During periods of internet and communication blackouts, I had no reliable way to reach my family, no calls, no messages, no way of knowing whether they were safe. The only contact I had were rare moments when they were briefly able to let me know they were okay.

Not knowing whether your family is safe while being physically far away and unable to reach them is something I still struggle to fully put into words.

Being in the U.S. without family support nearby, while carrying that constant uncertainty in the background on top of unemployment and growing financial strain, has taken a significant toll on me mentally and physically.

By late March 2026, because of the growing medical expenses, and ongoing unemployment, I had to make the very difficult and humbling decision to reactivate this GoFundMe. Asking for help again was not easy for me, but at that point I had reached a place where I simply could not carry everything alone anymore.

The support I received through this GoFundMe helped me survive an incredibly difficult and uncertain period of my life. It allowed me to cover basic necessities, manage urgent medical and dental expenses, and continue searching for stable employment when I honestly did not know how I was going to make it through.

But over the past several weeks, my health has taken a more serious turn.

What initially began as stress-related health issues has now developed into a thyroid condition that has severely impacted my calcium and vitamin D levels. As a result, my bone density has dropped to a dangerous point, and I am now at a 10–15% risk of fracture.

Hearing that from my doctor was both frightening and deeply discouraging. After spending so much of the past year fighting just to stay afloat financially and emotionally, it has been devastating to watch that stress begin affecting my body in such a serious way.

Because of this risk, I’ve been advised not to even begin physical therapy. Instead, I now require IV infusion treatments to stabilize my levels and help prevent further deterioration. These treatments are not optional, they are necessary for me to safely recover, move out of this risk zone, stabilize my condition and prevent further deterioration.

Unfortunately, my insurance will not cover them because I am considered “not sick enough.” Trying to process the reality that you need medical treatment, know exactly what needs to be done, and still cannot access it because of cost has been incredibly painful and defeating.

At the hospital, each treatment costs around $2,500 out of pocket. I was eventually able to find a private clinic willing to provide the same treatment for $500 per session, which was a huge relief compared to the original cost, but still far beyond what I can realistically manage right now while carrying significant debt from the past year.

At this point, I am only about $3,000 away from reaching my goal, and thanks to the extraordinary kindness and generosity people have already shown me, I am closer than I ever thought I would be.

Reaching that final amount would allow me to pay down the high-interest medical debt that has accumulated over the past year and finally begin the IV treatments I urgently need.

After more than a year of unemployment, surviving on credit cards to cover rent, medical expenses, and basic necessities, I have reached my financial limit.

And I think that has been the hardest part of all, knowing what I need to do to protect my health, but feeling financially trapped from being able to do it.

As difficult as it is to ask for help again, any support or even simply sharing this page would truly mean more to me than I can express.

Every contribution, message, and share brings me one step closer to stabilizing my health and rebuilding some stability in my life again.

Thank you for continuing to stand by me during a chapter of life I never imagined I would face.