Cecily has spent her entire life giving.
She is a software engineer, a gifted writer, a devoted mother of three, and a practicing Buddhist who doesn't just believe in compassion — she *lives* it, quietly and without fanfare, every single day. She is the kind of person who shows up for everyone around her without ever asking for anything in return.
Now, for once, we are asking on her behalf.
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**The Medical Reality**
Cecily's path to this surgery has been over a decade in the making — and it has not been easy.
For years, she was told her pain was normal. *"Painful ovulation is normal."* She heard it again and again from the medical professionals she trusted, while her body told her something else entirely. She was dismissed, minimized, and sent home to simply endure. What she was experiencing was not normal. It was never normal. But like so many women, she was gaslit into doubting herself while the conditions ravaging her body continued unchecked.
It was only when the pain became truly unbearable — intractable, impossible to push through — that the medical system finally started looking for answers. What they found was a total hysterectomy to treat multiple serious and overlapping conditions: endometriosis, adenomyosis, PCOS, adhesions, and several additional complications. A constellation of diseases that had been stealing her quality of life for years while she was told to simply carry on.
This surgery is not elective. It is necessary. It is urgent. And it is the answer she has deserved for over a decade.
Cecily lives in New Zealand, and the cost of this surgery falls entirely out of pocket. We are raising **$30,000 USD** to cover her surgical costs so that she can finally, *finally*, get the relief she deserves.
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**Who Cecily Is**
If you know Cecily, you already know. But for those who don't:
She immigrated to New Zealand with her husband and three children, building a life from scratch in a new country — far from extended family, navigating enormous loss, and doing it all with a grace that takes your breath away. She has survived things that would break most people. She carries those experiences not as bitterness, but as a deep, hard-won empathy for others who are struggling.
She is the person who will sit with you in your darkest moment and not flinch. She will hold space for your grief, your rage, your fear — and she will stay. She has been that person for so many of us.
Before her move to New Zealand, Cecily was a beloved and active presence in the Colorado literary scene. She read at open mics, hosted writing workshops in her home, and was — and still is — the kind of writer who will generously read your work, sit with it, and give you feedback that actually makes it better. She is the author of *These Chasms of the Earth*, with several other works in progress, including the forthcoming *Of Braxton Hicks and Other Imaginary Things*. Her writing carries the same qualities she brings to everything: unflinching honesty, deep compassion, and a voice entirely her own.
She is a software engineer by profession, a writer by calling, and a Buddhist by practice — not in the performative sense, but in the quiet, daily, *actual* sense. She is one of the most genuinely good people you will ever encounter.
Right now, even as she faces this surgery, she is more concerned about the people around her than herself. That is just who she is. It is one of her most beautiful qualities. It is also why we need to step in.
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**Why We're Asking**
Cecily's support network is not a large one — it is a fiercely devoted one. She does not have family nearby. The ties to extended family have frayed over years and distance and grief. What she has are the people who chose her, and who she has chosen in return.
We are those people.
And we are asking you — whether you know her personally or you simply recognize a person worth showing up for — to help carry this one thing for her.
She has carried so much for so long. Let's give her this.
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**Every dollar goes directly toward Cecily's surgical costs.**
If you can give, please give. If you can share, please share. Even passing this along to one more person could make the difference.
Thank you for seeing her.
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*Funds will be transferred directly to Cecily to cover her out-of-pocket surgical expenses in New Zealand.*