Help Jordan and Graham Have a Child!

Hello everyone!

My name is Graham and I'm here trying to raise money so my fiancé, Jordan and I can have a child!

It has been a dream of ours for years to one day be able to have a child of our own. We have always known that for two men this would not be an easy process, but over only the last few months, things suddenly started falling into place.

When considering having a child as a same sex couple, the most pressing issue is the finances, however earlier this year my coworker made me aware of a benefit from our employer. I work as a server at Walt Disney World, and Disney has a benefit to help their employees, or cast members, to start a family. They will reimburse a full time cast member up to $75,000 in order to start a family, whether that be, in our case, adoption or surrogacy.

Surrogacy always seemed like such a daunting undertaking until we had a conversation with Jordan's sister and she excitedly agreed to be our egg donor! This information made us ecstatic; unable to comprehend that we would be able to have a child that could share both our genetics, creating the perfect fusion of his Puerto Rican and my mix of Italian, German, and Slovak!

Our goals became solely focused on the concept of surrogacy, but the process still seemed overwhelming and impossible. Then, one ordinary day at work became anything but when a coworker and friend of mine told me that she would happily be our surrogate!

In an instant, two of the most daunting parts of the surrogacy process were behind us! We had an egg donor and a surrogate, and not just any surrogate, but someone that we already know, love, and who we trust!

Now, with the support of the Gaea Center at Disney, helping us to navigate the process, we have the feeling that anything is possible and the feeling of hope just burns inside of us and the excitement is almost too much to bear.

We are both lucky to have amazing and supportive families behind us that will be there to help once our child is born. Jordan's family is even beginning the moving process to Florida from Puerto Rico this June to be closer to us and to our future child.

But this all leads us back to the fact that Disney reimburses us for the process, and seeing as surrogacy may cost more than the $75,000 Disney will reimburse us for, we are left trying to figure out where we can possibly find that kind of money. We are prepared to do whatever we can, whether through applying to grants, loans, working second jobs, and picking up extra shifts, but the amount of this process is beyond what we know we can make alone, so this led us to GoFundMe.

I have seen people in the past use this fantastic website to reach out to friends, family, communities, and strangers from across the globe to fund great endeavors, and in my opinion, what would could be a greater endeavor than starting a family?

Whatever money we make from this page will directly help pay for all of the different expenses that lay before us including, but not limited to, medical bills for our donor and surrogate and lawyers and legal fees. Jordan and I have chosen to hold off on getting married, something that we desperately want to do with our family and friends to show our dedication to each other, because we know that whatever money we could raise for a wedding, should rather go towards this process. We hope that one day we will be able to have a wedding and our child will be able to be there with us as a ring bearer.

Don't be surprised if you come onto this page to see our names pop up under donations as we add whatever we can of our own money to this fund as well; using this page as a public savings account where you can all see our dedication to our dream.

If we are able to raise the funds and do in fact get reimbursed by Disney, I want to make it clear to everyone who supports us, that that money will go towards our child in helping them to have the best life that we could possibly provide for them. That money would help us to create a family and also set them on the path towards success in life, including a percentage of it most likely going towards their college fund.

Your support means the world to us. I hope this page can find its way in front of as many eyes as it can and that people understand the amount of love that not only Jordan and I have for each other but how much love we will have for our child. Our child will be our world and I hope that you would be so kind to support us on this journey as we learn and grow through this process.