Give Nhi Babies
Donation protected
Hello! I'm here to share Nhi's journey with you all. I know it's long, but it would mean the world to me if you could take a few minutes to read this.
soulmates:
Nhi and Jun met early in college, Nhi worked extremely hard and pretty much put herself through 12 years of education to become a brilliant doctor to be able to give back to her community. Jun has equally high entrepreneurial aspirations of working hard and owning his own restaurant some day. They're both successful, optimistic, and filled with hopes and dreams of starting their own family.
After many years of dating and knowing each other, Jun proposed live on webcam with the family in California and the two tied the knot in spring of 2016. Nhi's dream since childhood has always been to eventually have children and a family to call her own. Getting married was one step closer towards that goal and everyone was extremely happy for her and Jun.
Fast forward a couple of months after their wedding,
Nhi noticed a slight growth on what she had thought was a benign bump on her upper buttock. After Jun pushed her to go get it checked out, the bad news started rolling in.
Nhi had the mass biopsied and was diagnosed with a rare cancer called ASPS (Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma). ASPS (Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma), an extremely rare, poor prognosis type of cancer that typically only occurs in adolescents. Just to show you how rare it is, sarcomas make up 1% of all cancers, and ASPS makes up about 1% of all sarcomas. Since it is extremely uncommon, research and treatment options are not widely available. You may go here for more info on the type of sarcoma
http://sarcomahelp.org/asps.html
In June 2016, she underwent a major surgery to remove the 5cm cancerous mass from her right buttock and thankfully made full recovery even though a large part of her muscle was removed along with the mass. We had some hopes initially that the growth had been discovered in time for it not to be spread extensively.
More bad news,
After 4 months of close monitoring and scans, they discovered that the cancer had spread to her lungs The news was devastating to her friends and family, but most of all, this was a devastating blow for Nhi and Jun on every level. She was only 31 years old when she was diagnosed, life is now a certain uncertainty.
Over the past year, Nhi has been undergoing oral chemotherapy after the surgery failed to eliminate the cancer cells. This type of treatment is different than conventional chemotherapy because she takes a pill everyday instead of getting infusions, so it does allow her to live a semi normal life. She has lost weight, is fatigued often, and the side effects are often painful. Every aspect of her life changed, from dealing with the stress of work, uncertainty of treatment and just general bad news. Nhi's diet and carefree personality had to change to cope with the low energy levels and the constant worry of what's next. The most devastating news for her and Jun would ultimately be the fact that when undergoing treatment, it would be an impossibility to have children.
The surrogacy:
Nhi with Nia, her best friend's daughter.
Nhi as a baby!
When Nhi found out of the potential bad news, whether instinct or just pure luck, her and Jun managed to safely extract and freeze enough embryos before starting the chemotherapy just in case so that they may have options for the future.
Nhi has never been one to ask for handouts because she has always worked hard for everything she has and never gives up on her dreams. While this might be the most admirable trait about her, it puts a huge strain on her already failing body to be working extra 12 hour shifts, sometimes 7 days a week, as a physician in Urgent Care just to be able to save up enough money for a surrogacy down payment. We know that this will have negative effects on her health.
The financial burden of a surrogacy is upwards of $70,000 dollars, not including additional costs that will be incurred if anything does not go as planned.
As family who lives far away, we all feel useless because we can't be there to help her on a daily basis. This is why we are setting up this GoFundMe for her in hopes of helping her get the family she has always wanted.
Friends and Family,
Our only wish is for you to share Nhi's story with as many people as possible. The tiniest donations will definitely help and they will mean so much to our family. I know Nhi will also be eternally grateful for your kindness. Even if you're unable to donate, simply spreading the words will greatly help her cause.
Unfortunately, given the rare nature of ASPS, there is no good data out there, so we are taking every day one day at a time. The scans have showed that the treatment is keeping the cancer cells at bay, but her situation can change at any time as she can develop resistance to the medication she is taking and have to pursue another treatment option which we know are only available in clinical trials at this time. All we can do is continue to monitor for the rest of her life.
Time is of the essence. We want her and Jun to become proud parents, so any help we can get for her would allow the surrogacy process to get started so she can move forward.
Nhi has always been the most nurturing, selfless and big-hearted woman I know with a sweet and bubbly personality. Everyone who knows her know that she will light up any room, it breaks my heart to see her reeling from this unfortunate news so early in her life.
I'm so lucky to be able to call Nhi my sister and my best friend in the whole world. If I can get even a few people to donate, I'll be content knowing I was able to do something for her after she's done so much for me.
Again, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this to the end. I wish you the best!
soulmates:
Nhi and Jun met early in college, Nhi worked extremely hard and pretty much put herself through 12 years of education to become a brilliant doctor to be able to give back to her community. Jun has equally high entrepreneurial aspirations of working hard and owning his own restaurant some day. They're both successful, optimistic, and filled with hopes and dreams of starting their own family.
After many years of dating and knowing each other, Jun proposed live on webcam with the family in California and the two tied the knot in spring of 2016. Nhi's dream since childhood has always been to eventually have children and a family to call her own. Getting married was one step closer towards that goal and everyone was extremely happy for her and Jun.
Fast forward a couple of months after their wedding,
Nhi noticed a slight growth on what she had thought was a benign bump on her upper buttock. After Jun pushed her to go get it checked out, the bad news started rolling in.
Nhi had the mass biopsied and was diagnosed with a rare cancer called ASPS (Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma). ASPS (Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma), an extremely rare, poor prognosis type of cancer that typically only occurs in adolescents. Just to show you how rare it is, sarcomas make up 1% of all cancers, and ASPS makes up about 1% of all sarcomas. Since it is extremely uncommon, research and treatment options are not widely available. You may go here for more info on the type of sarcoma
http://sarcomahelp.org/asps.html
In June 2016, she underwent a major surgery to remove the 5cm cancerous mass from her right buttock and thankfully made full recovery even though a large part of her muscle was removed along with the mass. We had some hopes initially that the growth had been discovered in time for it not to be spread extensively.
More bad news,
After 4 months of close monitoring and scans, they discovered that the cancer had spread to her lungs The news was devastating to her friends and family, but most of all, this was a devastating blow for Nhi and Jun on every level. She was only 31 years old when she was diagnosed, life is now a certain uncertainty.
Over the past year, Nhi has been undergoing oral chemotherapy after the surgery failed to eliminate the cancer cells. This type of treatment is different than conventional chemotherapy because she takes a pill everyday instead of getting infusions, so it does allow her to live a semi normal life. She has lost weight, is fatigued often, and the side effects are often painful. Every aspect of her life changed, from dealing with the stress of work, uncertainty of treatment and just general bad news. Nhi's diet and carefree personality had to change to cope with the low energy levels and the constant worry of what's next. The most devastating news for her and Jun would ultimately be the fact that when undergoing treatment, it would be an impossibility to have children.
The surrogacy:
Nhi with Nia, her best friend's daughter.Nhi as a baby!When Nhi found out of the potential bad news, whether instinct or just pure luck, her and Jun managed to safely extract and freeze enough embryos before starting the chemotherapy just in case so that they may have options for the future.
Nhi has never been one to ask for handouts because she has always worked hard for everything she has and never gives up on her dreams. While this might be the most admirable trait about her, it puts a huge strain on her already failing body to be working extra 12 hour shifts, sometimes 7 days a week, as a physician in Urgent Care just to be able to save up enough money for a surrogacy down payment. We know that this will have negative effects on her health.
The financial burden of a surrogacy is upwards of $70,000 dollars, not including additional costs that will be incurred if anything does not go as planned.
As family who lives far away, we all feel useless because we can't be there to help her on a daily basis. This is why we are setting up this GoFundMe for her in hopes of helping her get the family she has always wanted.
Friends and Family,
Our only wish is for you to share Nhi's story with as many people as possible. The tiniest donations will definitely help and they will mean so much to our family. I know Nhi will also be eternally grateful for your kindness. Even if you're unable to donate, simply spreading the words will greatly help her cause.
Unfortunately, given the rare nature of ASPS, there is no good data out there, so we are taking every day one day at a time. The scans have showed that the treatment is keeping the cancer cells at bay, but her situation can change at any time as she can develop resistance to the medication she is taking and have to pursue another treatment option which we know are only available in clinical trials at this time. All we can do is continue to monitor for the rest of her life.
Time is of the essence. We want her and Jun to become proud parents, so any help we can get for her would allow the surrogacy process to get started so she can move forward.
Nhi has always been the most nurturing, selfless and big-hearted woman I know with a sweet and bubbly personality. Everyone who knows her know that she will light up any room, it breaks my heart to see her reeling from this unfortunate news so early in her life.
I'm so lucky to be able to call Nhi my sister and my best friend in the whole world. If I can get even a few people to donate, I'll be content knowing I was able to do something for her after she's done so much for me.
Again, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this to the end. I wish you the best!
Organizer and beneficiary
Tran Family
Organizer
Irvine, CA
Nhi Tran Lee
Beneficiary
