This is a story of a modern fairytale, one of single woman, who pursued educational goals only to be overtaken by Type 1 Diabetes in her last year of law school and was left with mounding debt. That illness pivoted her into establishing a small business and still coming up short with one income, limited access to modern medicine and time just slipping away. Realizing she’s now 45 years old and needing help in following her ultimate dream of becoming a mother.
It always starts off as a fairytale for every young woman but as we all know young woman need to grow up and realize that this isn’t a Disney movie and we need to adjust our perspectives and modernize our fairytale.
I saw my fairytale morph into an R rated movie at a very young age, like a slow drip of a faucet; it was so gradual it was almost unnoticeable at times.
That slow drip as a wee little princess started within the four walls of my own home, and despite those challenges, I still believed that maybe I could have a beautiful life, a fairytale hand woven just for my soul.
I braced myself for a life of adventures, being the first in my family to graduate college and the first to attend law school.
That little girl was no longer so little; she was becoming a woman and was well on her way to becoming a lawyer and being to provide for a child in the future. I’m sure you’re wondering why Law School was such a big deal for this little girl, and why would this be her fairytale?
Well, remember the four walls of her home; she saw things she probably was too young to see that entailed abuse, cheating, constant fighting, and somehow she seemed to get lost in the storm, becoming almost nonexistent but yet the core of the fights. The custody battles that went on for years, the fighting between parents seemed to never end; it had gotten so bad it caused the princess to be pulled from her own home to live with families she didn’t even know. The government had decided this princess needed to be cared for because it seemed like everyone had forgotten what they were really fighting for. After all the hurting and healing, she realized and truly believed that God exposed her to the wrong things so she could find her voice and advocate for the future generations. She wanted to become the voice for the voiceless, for the ones who felt unheard and unprotected. She knew that if a child ever entered the justice system, she would be at the frontline advocating for them until they found their footing. It was a purpose, a reason to get up every morning, and a calling that was hand woven for this young princess.
It was an amazing journey; I made it to the top of the mountain, or so I thought. It was now my 3rd year of law school, and I was amazed that I was going to be given a chance to make this world just a little bit better. Well, this is where I started to see that oh so subtle drip of the faucet creeping back into my world.
I no longer had the same strength years prior. It was shrugged off and boxed up as a woman who needed to push harder. The odd part was I started having a hard time taking in anything that was going on around me. My vision began to fade, and I didn’t look so strong anymore. I was frail and thin, and the dream I once had seemed to start slipping through my hands.
That finish line turned into a mirage, and that adventure turned into one I never anticipated. I had blinked my eyes and found myself in the hospital
Well, it didn’t take long for the doctors to run a few tests to find out I was about to slip into a coma. I was beyond belief; how could a once strong and driven girl turn into a frail woman so quickly?
All the puzzle pieces started to fit together while sitting in the hospital. My lost vision, being so frail and feeling like nothing around her made sense, My body was attacking itself. I found out I was battling a silent killer, Type 1 Diabetes. Not knowing that was the dragon I was supposed to slay, my body declined rapidly; taking a test at school was a thing of the past; how could I, if I couldn’t even see the words on the page?
My life had officially turned into a nightmare. Being stuck in the hospital, realizing my body wasn’t like everyone else's; it started to act funny under many different circumstances, and my dream of being an attorney was no longer allowed.
I didn’t know what to do; with school debt mounting (200k+), I had only one choice, and that was to fight to stay alive.
Not only did I feel weight of my debt, but now I wasn’t even sure I would be able to have a child or have the strength to care for an innocent soul.
Well, there were many peaks and valleys, and years had passed—almost 2 decades—the disease didn’t seem so manageable, and the debt wasn’t something I was able to handle. I did my best to work for the basic needs. I decided to run my own small business where I could work around my illness but found that modern medicine like IVF and surrogacy wasn’t available to small businesses.
My illness didn’t make things look too promising, and the only thing I had learned to do was survive. As time trickled away I realized that my body was so untrustworthy that even wanting a child or family might not be an option for me.
At this point in my life I had thought God had forgotten about me, and learned to rely on myself, which wasn’t much to rely on. Then there came a time, a realization that I’m turning of a certain age, and if I didn’t pray harder and look for a solution, I would forever be dragged down by this hideous disease.
I had prayed for all my debts to be settled, and God did exactly that a few months ago. I was no longer indebted to the educational facilities under a new law of the land that included forgiveness for people with Total and Permanent disabilities. This was the chance I was praying for.
I felt like air was being blown back into her body, that maybe just maybe dreams really do come true.
So I forged ahead, studying and analyzing, realizing that to have this dream I would need the assistance of good Samaritans. I realized that I cannot go out and have a child without doing things just right. So I went to the doctors, and they poked and prodded and said, "Okay, you may have a chance, but for that slim chance we will need all your savings.” I fell back into despair. What savings? I was just trying to stay alive to live another day and keep this business running so I can have food on the table.
I had all these questions: How can I carry a child at the age of 45? Will I hurt that unborn baby if I did carry and will I become ill? And how will I afford any of this? Or, by some miracle, would I be able to get a surrogate, an angel to carry my special soul?
I need to find a way to save these fading eggs and find a healthy surrogate to carry my future angel. If I’ve learned one major lesson in life: it’s to believe. Even if things looked impossible, just believe and stand in faith, even if you don’t see how it can ever happen. So here I am, believing once again.
Sharon S
773-407-6543
Funding will be sent to:
Red Rock Fertility Center
9120 West Russell Road Suite 200
Las Vegas, NV 89148
702-262-0079