Our dear Tala needs your help. After years of hard work, they got into medical school! But Tala is suffering from PTSD and Crohn’s disease. These challenges are threatening this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Your support will lift Tala out of a constant battle and equip them to become an incredible doctor.

Tala has achieved so much: stellar GPAs at UC Berkeley and Mills College, a top MCAT score, and building an enthusiastic professional network ready to welcome them into the field. As a disabled, trans, Filipino artist and educator raised by immigrants, Tala is uniquely positioned to serve vulnerable communities.

A pillar of community

Tala is a helper, entering medicine after roles as an arts educator and crisis line counselor. Tala first taught music in low-income East Bay schools. Then, as a ballet instructor for the past 7 years, they’ve supported over 150 students in developing artistic excellence and positive self-esteem. Tala has had a lasting impact on many young dancers and their families. Simultaneously, Tala expanded into community healthcare as a 988 crisis line counselor, supporting hundreds of people in their most vulnerable moments.

As a doctor, Tala’s warm and insightful care will positively impact countless lives. Tala does so much for others, but they can’t keep going alone.

So much promise, so much pain

Tala has worked extremely hard to get to this point. But they’ve carried secret pain for over a decade that now threatens to undermine everything.

Tala is a survivor of violence, which led to significant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research indicates violence is linked to autoimmune disorders. For Tala, this likely contributed to an additional diagnosis: Crohn's disease.

Help Tala fight Crohn’s and PTSD

Crohn’s is an inflammatory, autoimmune disorder where the body attacks healthy tissue. For Tala, this has caused daily agony and even more extreme flares. During flares, Tala’s level 10 organ pain has sent them to the ER multiple times. Tala long suspected Crohn’s, but as many marginalized people experience, doctors first dismissed them as ‘anxious.’ Tala was left to suffer without access to treatment in the early stages, and the disease progressed.

Full of uncertainty and consumed by pain, Tala pressed on. Now, they’ve assembled an excellent care team and have been self-administering injection treatments weekly for over a year. Their pain is way down and the Crohn’s is approaching remission. With well-managed Crohn’s, people can live full, healthy lives. Your support will help Tala access the care they need to reach remission and stay there.

Tala’s care also includes trauma therapy. Even through chronic illness, working two jobs, and applying to medical school, Tala has poured significant energy into healing from PTSD. After a taxing search for the right care, they’ve been working closely with a phenomenal therapist who offers a generous sliding scale rate. This specialized therapy, in tandem with the support of their service dog Olive, is working. Tala has started to see a significant reduction in symptoms and improved quality of life.

However, there's more work to do. Trauma therapy is exhausting and costly, even with a discounted rate. For years, Tala has worked 50 hours a week with little paid time off. They’ve often been forced to choose between pushing through multiple shifts immediately after intensive treatment or losing income needed to cover basic needs.

Please help Tala escape this double bind and access the resources they need to sustainably recover from PTSD and Crohn’s.

A rare and valuable doctor

There aren’t many doctors like Tala. Becoming a doctor can cost over half-a-million dollars. Low-income students, transgender students, and disabled students are all severely underrepresented in medicine. Unlike Tala, medical students are disproportionately wealthy, non-LGBTQ, nondisabled, and/or from highly educated families.

Tala grew up in the only brown family in a rural, white community. Tala’s family often faced xenophobia and financial hardship. When their single mom’s full-time job wasn’t enough to prevent the family from losing their home, Tala started working at age 12, teaching violin. They came out as transgender at 16 and had to transition with few resources. Against all odds, Tala will be the first ever graduate student among their entire extended family.

Tala’s life experience has prepared them to address the most vulnerable needs of patients with empathetic care. We need your help to ensure Tala’s perseverance and talents serve patients who face bias and neglect in healthcare. Tala will help push the needle towards a medical system where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

Tala urgently needs support with the following:

Healthcare costs

$5,500 for trauma therapy

$4,500 for Crohn's disease-related healthcare costs (medication, copays, pain management)

$1,200 for service dog care

- Tala had to pull from Olive’s vet care savings to survive. Help ensure Tala will have Olive’s support and love throughout medical school.

Educational costs

$5,000 to cover shortfall in medical school loans for their first semester

- Tala’s loan package does not fully cover the cost of their medical school education. Help Tala focus on school and their health without needing to find extra work.

$1,200 for moving

- Necessary relocation-to-medical-school support to avoid injuries

$5,000 to cover the cost of medical school applications

- $3,000 for application fees

- $2,000 for MCAT test fee, prep materials

$5,000 relief from one year’s undergraduate student loan payments

- Despite careful planning, unexpected circumstances forced Tala to make additional $1,100 monthly loan payments this past year, totaling $13,200. Keeping up with payments devastated Tala financially, taking away from their healthcare and other needs.

"I’m in constant awe of Tala. Their sheer excellence and hunger for learning are so delightful. I see every day the power they have to succeed. Tala has been through truly unimaginable suffering. Your support is crucial to remove these final hurdles and let Tala realize everything they’ve been working towards. Thank you so much for helping my love, the most fun and brilliant person I know, shine.”

-R, Tala's partner

“I have known Tala for over a decade now, and it's hard to convey how profound a privilege it is to have them in my life… Tala has been generous in trusting me to witness their joys and heartbreaks and dreams and transformations… Their existence is, indeed, resistance. I couldn't be more thrilled to see Tala embarking on this next adventure of med school — but they need support. As someone low-income who dearly loves Tala, I ask you plainly: please give them what I cannot — the material resources they need to thrive. And then stick around. I promise, Tala's compassion, talent, curiosity, and dedication are beautiful to witness — and a challenge to all of us to dream bigger and do better.”

-A, Tala’s friend

Every gift is an act of support and solidarity on Tala’s long and often lonely path.

One day people will ask Dr. Tala, “How did you do it?”

We hope part of the answer will be, “With the help of community.”

Please join us in supporting Tala and celebrating their incredible journey.

Donate today, and share this widely.