Help Us Adopt: Schoenwald-Elliott Journey to a Family

Our Story: BIG NEWS

We are starting our journey to adopting a child! Just like many other women getting married, it is mine and my husband's dream to start a family. I have recently faced unexpected challenges to that dream. It's so difficult to plan for something so much and face roadblocks that you cannot control, like the fear and disappointment of a health condition. Some may know that I had a kidney transplant at 8 years old due to a rare virus. I am no stranger to health and life challenges, but everyone who knows me knows that I work hard to overcome them. Going to get my kidney transplant was a huge undertaking for my family as my dad was serving in Iraq, and my family had to move back to the USA from Germany to get my care. I have been faithfully caring for the kidney selflessly donated by my mother for 21 years. I have recently discovered a very similar disease to what caused my kidney failure has reoccurred in my transplant kidney and will make pregnancy too dangerous for me. Taking care of this kidney transplant is number one, even if it means making difficult decisions about how to plan our future. Luckily, I have a great treatment plan to slow the disease and protect my kidney but pregnancy is not possible on that treatment. Believe me, it's been the hardest challenge so far of my life. Dealing with all of this has been a lot, and different than we planned, but we think adoption is an amazing way to build a family. My husband deserves to be a father just as much, even though it is too risky for me to carry a baby. We hope we can give a child the most amazing life.

It is very difficult to publicly share out our story, but as part of our journey, we are starting this crowdfunding because you may not know that adoption can cost upwards of $50,000. It is devastating to think that what gets in the way of me being a mom and having a family is money. The cost of adoption is overwhelming, and we can't do it alone.

We hope that inviting you to help in this process will help us to bring home a child that we can provide with a life full of love and opportunity. We are so grateful for all of the love and support. Please share our journey. xoxo.

The Elliott and Schoenwald Families