Hello! My name is Piper (some may know me as Hope), and my spouse and I are coming up on our one year marriage anniversary, and it's been a hell of a ride so far. Between both of us changing career paths, becoming animal parents/fosters, and numerous medical emergencies, we have found ourselves completely out of money and options.

Sanskruti and I met during my junior year of college when I transferred to Gonzaga University. Through a series of heartbreaks we ended up together, quickly snowballed into spending every day together. During this time I dropped out of school and realized medical school wasn't my intended path. Also, I really had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. They graduated in May of 2022, and I knew then and there I had to follow them and do everything in my power to not lose them in my life.

We moved out to Washington D.C. together with their cat (and our first son), Trashbag, two years ago just as our relationship was really blossoming for Sanskruti's first year of law school at Georgetown Law. I had hopes of working as a stagehand with my years of skills and training in the field and taking the time to figure out my future career. We adopted our first cat together - a lovely little, mostly-blind, possible-dwarfism-haver, goofball of a baby girl. I had been longing to have animals in my life again after having none since moving out to college, and losing my childhood dog and cat freshman year. After finding her photo while scrolling through a local shelter's website, we fell in love right away and decided we would do whatever we have to to give Trashbag and his new disabled sister, Cruella, a happy and spoiled life.

Unfortunately, as it happens to most, we were body-slammed to the ground by life. First Sanskruti contracted pneumonia in March of 2023 and ended up in the hospital for four days, then I ended up with a night in the emergency room a couple months after with pneumonia as well. (For our friends and family - don’t worry, you haven't missed our wedding! We had a courthouse ceremony on June 30th, 2023 with just the two of us for financial and legal reasons. We are still going to have an actual wedding, just in a few years when we can afford one! We are saving up for the biggest celebration possible.)

Any hospital visit for me is extremely bad. I am disabled with Hereditary Spherocytosis and had my spleen and gallbladder removed when I was 8 because of it. My immune system is very poor and has frequently put me in the E.R. or the hospital. I also was diagnosed with Raynaud's Disease when I was 6, which isn't nearly as debilitating, but just as frustrating to deal with on the day-to-day. The pneumonia I contracted in May of 2023 never fully left my body, and with the humid air of D.C. I contracted a sinus infection as well. Mid August of 2023 my amazing spouse took me back to GWU Hospital's E.R., and I was admitted to the hospital with a highly concerning amount of speed. Three days into my hospital stay, during a bronchoscopy, my oxygen dropped to the 50s and my heart stopped. I was put on an ECMO machine, and a ventilator that luckily only lasted about 17 hours. I then spent a full week in the ICU on the ECMO machine until my lungs regained the strength to support my body without it. Another 2 weeks after this and I was finally discharged with my amazing father and spouse to help me home, but not before every single doctor and nurse stopped to comment "I'm so amazed to see you up and talking and moving around! Let alone alive! Most of us didn't think you were gonna make it!". Because of this humongous toll on my body, another chronic, genetic condition flared up, leaving me with extreme daily pain and completely unable to work a job.

However, because we were already a young and broke couple freshly out of the nest, we already were really struggling to make ends meet. Now, we are beyond broke and have exhausted every extra source of money we can - and pretty much destroyed our credit as well, and have piles and piles of medical debt to pay off, both physically and psychologically. Plus, we have a terrifying amount of student debt and nowhere that will hire us for more than minimum wage.

We are coming up on our first wedding anniversary on the 30th of June, and both finally figured out what our path in life is! We are trying to move back to Washington to our support network and family as soon as we can. Then, I am planning on returning to school to become a Vet Tech, and both of us plan on opening an animal sanctuary/rehabilitation center as soon as we can! We both love animals with our whole hearts, and realized our calling in life is to provide care and shelter to as many disabled, sick, and in-need animals as possible.

On the subject of animals, we figured out our calling on accident! We have taken in 6 cats so far of varying ages, abilities, and needs. It started as taking in a co-worker's cat that was about to end up on the street. Then, we took over as the caretakers of all of the strays in our neighborhood and rescued one older kitten that had been beaten to hell and back. Recently, one of our neighbors gave us a pair of kittens that his family could not take care of at all. We love every single one of them and are looking at adopting a couple to some wonderful and loving homes. Our full pack currently includes (in order of who came into the house first): Trashbag - 4 yrs, Cruella DeVille - 2 yrs, Kipo - 7ish yrs, Ozzie - 6 or 8 mon., Louise - 6 weeks, and Tina - 4 weeks.

Between all of the sorely needed vet trips, our medical bills and student debt, excess debt, and extreme inflation, we barely have a dollar to our names put together. We can barely keep the lights on, put groceries in the fridge, or help the cats that we love. Of course we have friends and family, but we are ALL blue collar and minimum wage workers struggling to pay our rents or mortgages. Even our amazing, awesome parents can only do so much in the face of a million dollar, two week hospital stay (I'm now a million dollar baby). I tried as hard as possible to hold even a part time job, but my body and home falls into shambles any time I do. Sanskruti and I are BOTH actively being seen and evaluated for potential conditions that are 100% disabling and will eventually need to get onto disability and government assistance. But - because we have no official diagnosis yet (all of the testing and appointments with specialists takes MONTHS), we have no case for ANY type of government assistance.

This is were I get on my knees and humble myself a little - I really, really need your help. If you can, I could use any financial help possible. I have an amazing family and bright future to fight for, I just need help with the funding. I love my spouse, my family, and the life I've carved out for us, and I wake up happy to spend another day with them every single day. I need to support my family and ensure they, and I, continue to survive so I can finish school and give them the life they deserve. LITERALLY ANYTHING HELPS! $1, $2, even $5 - EVERY LITTLE CONTRIBUTION HELPS! I can't put into words how thankful I am for taking the time to read this and even consider helping me, but I'll try - THANK YOU! EVERY PENNY MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

*COST BREAKDOWN NOTE* All of the money used will be going toward getting us out of debt and helping us pay our bills. I will update this page as often as I can for any updates (like a full grocery trip, paying off our electricity bills outstanding amount, things like that). Our first checkpoint is getting back to Washington State, and we will give a detailed update then!