I just turned 29 years old on March 1st, but for this years birthday, I got anything but a present...      
            You see, I'd been having symptoms for some time; such as cold sweats, some swollen lumps in my neck, and a very prominent itch all over my body, but due to my lack of health insurance, and the lack of any pain associated with the symptoms, I postponed having a doctor take a look at it. It wasn't until a friend of mine, who had been doing some research online, ran across a correlation in these symptoms, but that correlation was a much more serious proposition than I had expected... Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Armed with this new information and theory, I made sure that I had the best birthday that I could have, and then I checked myself into Hurley hospital the very next day. After 4 days of hospitalization and a biopsy removing one of these lumps from my throat, I got the dumbfounding news that I had predicted correctly, and that the biopsy did come back positive for cancer. I was told that there is nothing that you do or don't do, to contract Hodgkin's Lymphoma, it is just prone to effecting predominantly women, between the ages of 25 and 30, and that I am now one of those unfortunate women.
The treatment for most types of cancer including this one, as most of us well know, is chemotherapy. I originally thought that the worst result of that treatment was losing all of your hair, but sadly, as if that isn't bad enough, the real worst possible side effect, that I now know of, is infertility.
  Turning 29 and looking back at the past decade of my life, I wondered, what do I really have to show for it all? I've been through so much in the short time that I have been on this Earth, my father has passed, my mother is in an adult foster care home, and my one half-brother and I are estranged. I have become a licensed cosmetologist, a licensed auto-mechanic, and I was even the lead singer of a cover band at one point in time. Now, I have been working as one of the only female welders at the railroad for the past year and a half.
Finally finding a decent job and getting off of welfare for the first time in my life had me looking forward to my future, but it also contributed to my lack of health coverage, as I no longer qualified for medicaid, and still didn't make enough to pay out-of-pocket for such an extensive and unexpected care schedule.
   I have done so many things and learned so much from it all, but I have always thought that my experiences both good or bad, would all finally pay off, the day that I had a child to share them with. 
Someone of my own flesh and blood to share all of my knowledge with, someone who looks up to me for guidance, and depends on me each and every day to help them through this crazy thing that we all call life. I believe that Gods greatest gift to women was the ability to reproduce and to create life. That is why we are women, and that is also why I don't feel like my life would be complete without being able to utilize this wonderful gift from God. This diagnosis is already taking its toll on the other gift that God gave me, my singing voice, and I can't afford to lose anymore. I really thought that I would be a little further along by now like my friends are, you know, married, kids, the whole deal, but now I only feel like I am behind and running out of time.

  So I found out that the only option that I have to guarantee that I can have my own children in the future, is to now have my eggs frozen before I begin the chemotherapy treatments. Although my friends, the doctors, and whats left of my family, are very concerned about me waiting to begin the chemotherapy, as time can be a major factor in how quickly the cancer spreads; I have decided that I still cannot take the risk of being infertile after all of this is said and done. I actually told them all that if the chemo were to save me, but make me infertile, the rest of my life wouldn't even be worth living to me anyway, and if that was going to be the case, then I would rather keep my hair, and die of the cancer. I know that this sounds extreme, but that truly is the way that I feel.
Thus, I went to see a fertility doctor. They were very kind and helpful, and said that I was a good candidate for egg freezing, but they definitely want to start it as soon as possible because it takes about 2 weeks from beginning to end, and my oncologist cannot start any kind of cancer treatments now until it is finished. Thanks to the Livestrong Foundation, the price to freeze my eggs was drastically reduced through a program that they started for cancer patients, but its still $4000. Since I haven't been able to return to work during this whole ordeal, I have no way to come up with that kind of money, and the longer I wait to start this process, the longer I have to wait to start the life-saving chemotherapy treatments. I am really at a loss at this point in time because of the urgency, and my lack of financial options. Since egg freezing is typically considered an elective surgery, there are no insurance companies that cover it, not even medicaid. So although I am very appreciative that there was some sort of assistance that I qualified for, they are unable to discount the price any further. I know that my loved ones are correct in their concerns on the time frame, because the longer it takes for me to come up with this money and start the process, the sicker I am going to get by the day, and the less-likely it is for the chemotherapy treatments to be completely effective in curing my disease, if this delay allows it to get much worse.
    This is why I am asking for any help that I can get with this ordeal. I am normally not the kind to ask for financial help, but this being a life or death situation has significantly influenced my judgements on the thought a great deal. The best news, is that the fertility doctor's financial department is going to try and work with me. The advisor that I spoke with, informed me that even if I could come up with only half of the $4000 upfront, that she may be able to work out a financing option with me for the rest of the bill and then we could at least get the ball rolling and start the medications leading up to the surgery.

  Having a family of my own is supposed to be the next step in my journey, and being almost 30 now, I can't think of anything that I look forward to more in my life, then being able to one day hold my first child in my arms, and just look up at my future husband, and smile.
  
I'm asking you to help make that happen for me, to help make it a possibility for me to be able to live a full life as a woman, in spite of my cancer, and the ability to bring new life into our world. I am grateful for anything that you can spare, that may give me hope in these trying times, and I also appreciate your prayers. I pray to God every day that I can get through all of this and hopefully come out on the other side relatively unscathed, but nevertheless, an even stronger woman than I am today.
And then I pray that one day, I can share this story with my children.

P.S. If anyone is interested in updates on my progress, all you have to do is ask, and I will gladly share with you the blessings that your generosity may bring to me.