For as long as I can remember, my sister, Kristen, has wanted to be a mother. Though she is only four years older than me, she always nurtured me and treated me as well as she would her own child. I still remember sharing a full-sized bed with her when I was in Kindergarten and using her arm for my pillow because being close to her made me feel safe and secure. Even when her arm would fall asleep and get all tingly, she would stay there with me, so as not to wake me.
      In 1997, when I was 16, she had her son, John, and the reality of what a great mom she was always meant to be, came to fruition. Kristen absolutely loves being a mom, but within the first few years of John's life she had an incredible experience that she would never forget. She describes it like this: 
     "It’s difficult to share, because it was such a sacred experience for me. I had a moment where I knew there was another child that was supposed to join our family. Not just that she exists, but in that moment I swear that I felt her presence- I knew her. She was familiar to me. I even knew her name."
     At that time Kristen was not married and having another child was impossible. But she always remembered this experience, and it gave her hope that someday, not only would she marry, but that someday, she would have a daughter. For years she dated various versions of Mr. Wrong, until finally in 2014, she married Kyle, the man of her (and our family's) dreams.

     Kristen and Kyle both looked forward to having children together but soon after they married, Kristen's monthly cycles, which had been extremely painful since puberty, became even more painful than ever. She had suffered from endometriosis for over twenty years, and it only got worse as she grew older. For anyone who does not know, endometriosis is basically when the endometrial tissue that normally makes a nice, soft, uterine lining-pillow for a baby, instead grows on the outisde of the uterus. Kristen's endometrial tissue was so out of control that it had essentially glued her organs together. At this point, every time her menstrual cycle came around, she had to take two days off of work because every slight movement caused searing pain. 
     Eventually she had surgery to remove some of the endometrial tissue, and some ovarian cysts. The surgeon recommended that she have a total hysterectomy as the only permanent fix for such severe endometriosis. She still felt very strongly that her daughter was still waiting to join their family, so she told the surgeon to just fix what he could. He informed her that if she was planning to have fertility treatments, she should do it as soon as possible after the surgery, but they did not have the money at that time.
     In February 2018, Kristen went in for another similar surgery in hopes of trying again to start fertility treatments. All the endometrial tissue had grown back, and to make things worse, her ovarian tubes had scarred shut and ballooned.  The surgery went well, and though she was in pain, she still held out hope for growing her family. She was ready to move forward with her plan to do In-Vitro Fertilization, but within a week, she ended up back in the hospital. The surgeon had very carefully removed the endometrial and scar tissue from her organs and colon, but the surgery left her instestines week and they tore. For nearly a week, her body was leaking toxic waste into her system, and by the time she was admitted to the hospital, she was so infected that had she not returned to the hospital, she could have died. She had to spend 21 days in the hospital, taking several strong anti-biotics and undergoing weekly scans to determine if her intestines were healing.
      Anyone who had stayed in the hosptial for more than a few days knows that it can be very depressing, but in spite of this, she still held out hope that she would get better, get back to her life, and get back to trying to grow her family. Unfortunately, some of the scans showed that Kristen had a mass hiding behind her small intestine. The doctors tested it, and as she puts it, "Instead of getting to have a baby, [she] got cancer." She was diagnosed with lymphoma at the end of March, but she needed to heal from her first surgery and the subsequent ostemy surgery of her bowels, before they could start chemotherapy.
     By October, Kristen, Kyle and John, had moved, and she had to start all over with a new set of doctors. These doctors found a second mass hiding behind her pancreas, and at that point, they decided it was time to start chemo. Two days later, she had surgery to put in a medicine port, and the next day she started chemotherapy. Months of misery followed, but finally, she reached that happy day when her cancer was in remission.
     It has now been one year since that time, and everything is still looking good. She finally has more energy and is living a healthy, happy life. However, her dream of having her daughter is still weighing on her heart. She told me, "I'm trying to capture the last shred of hope to have this child." She has been told that after chemotherapy, her eggs would not be any good for a full year, but now that it has been a year, she is trying to seize the chance to gather any viable eggs she can.
     She and Kyle have diligently scraped and saved up $17,000 for the doctor's fees, but they still need $9,000 more for medications and other fertility treatment fees. The sad thing is that she is running out of time. She turns forty-four this year and right now may be her last chance to finally have a child of her own with her sweetheart. 
     I am sharing this story because Kristen desperately needs your help. A donation of any dollar amount would be such a blessing. She is hoping to start treatment in about a month. Please, please, please help my sister fulfill her dream!