Hi my name is Uchechi, my dearest and only sister IJ is in her final year of medical school but has since stopped classes due to inability to pay fees. She has just 5 months of schooling left to graduate, and she is quickly running out of time.

As those closest to her may already know, she is doing her best under extreme circumstances, still showing up for others every single day with a smile on her face. We invite you to please help us as we continue to fight for her!

IJ’s medical education, which has been partially funded by scholarships and out of my parents’ savings, has been impacted by the accelerated devaluation of the naira. We are at that point where we have run out of options (yes, IJ has applied for loans, scholarships, appealed for fee waivers, written fellowship applications and asked for donations from philanthropic organizations and well endowed individuals). We realize that IJ needs help from everyone to achieve her goal of finishing medical school this year.

We have started this GoFundMe campaign to ease the burden of our only surviving parent. As you can probably imagine, telling any personal story takes courage and honesty. It is scary to broadcast our most sensitive details to the whole world, but we humbly hope that our honesty and vulnerability come across the screen and touches your heart. We also promise to pay every good deed forward.

IJ needs to spend approximately 20 weeks in hospitals and clinics in the United States to complete her clinical training. She has fought so many battles to get to this point in her journey, including personal health challenges. She also overcame the devastating loss of our mom and the unexpected delay in the progression of her education that came thereafter.

We are asking for your donations which will go towards completing the balance payment of IJ's tuition and examination fees.

COST BREAKDOWN

I hope you understand how much your donations will help IJ see the end of this portion of her medical education, she cannot run this last mile without your help.

Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth, the leading psychologist on grit, defined it as a combination of passion and perseverance for achieving long-term goals. I want to tell you a little bit about the gritty character of my dear sister IJ - from a young age she showed intellectual promise, great emotional intelligence and resilience. When she was in her second year of medical school in the Caribbean, our family experienced a major health event that transformed us forever. She became so passionate about patient safety in the perioperative period.

Through the years, she has diligently worked hard on her overarching goal to become an Anesthesiologist. IJ is a prudent woman, and although she has been through so much, her myriad experiences have not stopped her but they have served to make her a formidable force in this world. The vagaries of her storied life have fostered a deep sense of compassion for others within her, and I believe her future patients will benefit greatly from having her as their doctor.

IJ is a woman with a strong moral core, she has touched the lives of the people closest to her in her unique way through empathetic listening, laughter, sage advice, words of encouragement to the weary hearted amongst us, and through rolling up her sleeves to directly participate in helping others out of difficult circumstances.

Your generosity and kindness will enable our superstar IJ to give full attention to her final 2 semesters of clinical rotations, examinations, evaluations, volunteering, and eventually finish medical school. From the bottom of our hearts we humbly ask that you share this link with your friends, family members, neighbors, colleagues, group chats, associations, both via social media and through word of mouth.

We also humbly ask that you give towards this worthy cause because no amount is too small, and every dollar will go a long way to help IJ graduate with her class in August.

We thank you for your kindness, love, encouragement, financial support and most importantly for taking time out of your busy schedule to click and read, for your donation to help IJ graduate, and also for sharing our GoFundMe campaign post. I pray for God's continued blessings over you and every member of your family in Jesus Christ name, Amen.

Uchechi (a.k.a IJ's Big Sis).

Update

LINK TO DONATE IN NAIRA: Naira Donations Tracker