A transwoman who lost everything and a straight man who almost gave up on life found each other when hope was gone. We married against all odds, survived pain that could have destroyed us, and now stand together believing that God will open a path toward parenthood. Surrogacy is our only way to become parents, and your support could be the miracle we have prayed for.

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If someone told us that a transwoman raised in silence and a straight man who once lost all hope would one day meet through a screen, save each other’s lives, marry under U.S. law, cross borders for love, and still believe God will open a path to parenthood, we would not have believed it. Yet here we are, living proof that miracles do not only happen in churches or scriptures, but in the messy, painful, beautiful corners of real life. This is our story, a story of survival, faith, healing, and a love that refuses to break even when the world tried to shatter it.

I, Jia, grew up in a strict Christian household in the Philippines. With a police officer father and a traditional mother, I learned to hide who I was from the moment I understood myself. I moved quietly and I spoke carefully, keeping my identity, my womanhood, my truth hidden not from shame but from fear of persecution. Every day felt like walking on eggshells as I prayed that no one would see the girl I truly was behind the mask I was forced to wear. In my search for love, I once trusted someone who destroyed my life. I lost my entire bank savings. I lost my property in the Philippines. I ended up trapped in a coercive relationship. I was left with nothing and forced into a Debt Management Plan just to survive. There were days I felt I would never heal, days when love felt like a punishment instead of a blessing, days when I wondered why my heart kept beating when life kept breaking it. But God does not abandon. He was preparing a different kind of love, a kind that saves instead of destroys, a kind that lifts instead of wounds, a kind that sees beyond scars.

Sam, my husband, is the middle child, the one who often carries everything quietly while others assume he is fine. His older brothers started their own families early in life, but Sam sacrificed everything so his younger siblings could live more comfortably. He gave up his own education, he worked for years repairing their home, and he held responsibilities beyond his age. He was the silent backbone of a family who depended on him long before he was old enough to depend on himself. In 2023, life hit him harder than ever. His father fell gravely ill, Sam became his full-time carer, and his father died weeks later. This loss shattered him. He tried applying abroad only to be scammed and lose every peso he had saved. He spiraled into severe depression. And the part he hid from the world was this: Sam was suicidal. He told me later, “If you didn’t come into my life, I don’t think I would still be alive.” Hearing the person you love whisper a truth like that is something you never forget. He was a man carrying invisible wounds, and yet he was the man God chose for me.

We met in April 2023 on a social streaming app. I was performing in drag to share joy, and he was singing to survive. Two strangers in different worlds, carrying different battles, somehow drew toward each other like two souls searching for home. What started as small conversations turned into hours of honesty. We laughed, we healed, and we understood each other’s pain without judgment. We met in person in November 2023 and everything became real, soft, inevitable, written by a hand greater than ours. Love did not simply happen. It arrived like a lifeline.

In April 2024, we married in the way God opened for us. The Philippines has no Equality Law, and I cannot marry as a woman in my own country. So under the U.S. Constitution, through Utah’s virtual marriage system, we married legally in April 2024. His entire family attended proudly. None of mine came, not even those I invited. The silence from my side of the screen hurt deeply, but I smiled through the pain quietly and reminded myself that God writes stories differently. That same night, after just three glasses of wine, my body reacted violently. My heart went into arrhythmia, and I collapsed. On my wedding night, I nearly died. Sam held me as he shook and cried, whispering, “Please don’t leave me… you saved me. Let me save you too.” In that moment, I understood that love is not only something you say, it is something you survive for.

Knowing how unsafe our love was in the Philippines, Sam made the bravest decision of his life. He left his country to join me in the UK where loving freely is finally possible. We rebuilt from nothing. We held onto each other. We healed together. And from the beginning, our dream remained the same: to have a child, a child who will grow up knowing their parents climbed mountains, crossed oceans, and pushed through the darkest nights so they could be born.

As a transwoman and straight man couple, surrogacy is our only way to have a biological child. But in the Philippines, surrogacy is considered immoral by many. People judge even the idea of it. But I believe, with the love and resilience God allowed us to have, that He will open a door. He has opened every impossible door before, so why not this one? When God plants a longing in your heart, He is preparing the miracle long before you see it.

Today, 17 November, I spoke to our godmother, a British woman who has been a guiding light in our journey. She knows my painful past: the heartbreak, the coercive former relationship, the financial loss, the property I lost, and the debts I am still repaying. When I told her about our dream of having a child through surrogacy, she said gently, “You both have survived too much to give up now. Tell your story. Ask for help. Let people who believe in love support you. Create a GoFundMe.” She reminded me that faith works through people. And I told her, “Surrogacy may not be accepted in our country… but I still believe God will make a way.” Today, as we open our hearts to the world, I believe that even more. Sometimes miracles arrive through strangers who choose compassion.

Surrogacy is expensive, far beyond our means, especially after rebuilding our lives from trauma, grief, financial devastation, and immigration. Your support will help us begin the surrogacy process, cover medical evaluations, secure legal protections, and follow a safe, ethical, hopeful path to parenthood. Every contribution becomes part of our future child’s story, a story born from grace, compassion, and love. Your kindness could become the bridge between heartbreak and hope, between yesterday’s pain and tomorrow’s promise.

We survived persecution, poverty, heartbreak, suicide, coercion, loss, and even the shadow of death. We saved each other. We crossed oceans for love. We married with faith as our witness. And now, we dream of welcoming a child into our lives, a child who will grow up knowing their parents fought, prayed, and endured everything so love could win. If our story touched you, please help us take this final step toward building the family we have long prayed for.

With love, faith, and endless gratitude,

Jia & Sam