Hello, this is the Santos family and we are raising funds for the Cousart family.

Tawana Cousart is not in the United States by choice. Were it up to her, she would be in the Philippines with her husband Carlo Cousart and her five-year-old son, Shiloh. But life and individual circumstances have a way of making things happen that, as any of us can attest to, lead to things that are frustratingly out of our control and this is absolutely the truth for Tawana and the Cousart family. In order to make sense of this, we need to start from the beginning.

Taw suffers from Crohn's disease, a deblitating chronic inflammation of the gut that results in side effects including but not limited to: inability to digest food properly which can lead to severe malnourishment, rashes, arthritis, inflammation of the liver and eyes, etc. There is no cure as of yet, and the treatments that are out there serve merely to prolong and improve quality of life. Tawana and her family exhausted all of their financial resources, including whatever savings they had, in the Philippines to treat her condition. Even with outside support, it was not feasible nor sustainable to try to pay for treatment, so when Taw was deemed fit for travel, she was faced with the difficult decision to move to the US independent of her family where the hospitals were better equipped to handle the specific treatments her body needed in order to continue fighting her illness. In addition, and just as key, she would under the Medi-Cal healthcare system where her treatment could not be refused.

Tawana arrived in the US in May of 2022. Though separated from her family, Taw began to receive the necessary treatments required in order to sustain her health and though she still suffers from chronic, unavoidable side-effects related to her condition, her health did improve. Taw's hardships did not end there, however. In addition to being separated fro her family, Taw faced personal matters that resulted in her moving in with us in October 2022. It is coming upon 7 months and she has been nothing but a blessing to our family, and we consider her, her husband, and their son to be like blood relatives. As of this writing, it is roughly the one-year anniversary since her arrival to the US, and Taw faces new challenges that we thought GoFundMe would be a suitable platform to help her in her unique circumstance.

Taw wants to petition to have her family be able to move to the US. The amount that is being requested is going solely towards the petition process, of which our family has offered to contribute $1k towards, however, there are several key factors that we would love to open up the floor for support from those that have read this thus far and find it in their hearts to offer help for a family that is doing their best in the face of so many hurdles to be reunited.

Under Medi-Cal, Taw has found herself fit enough to work, although not all obstacles have been cleared. Taw essentially is starting life over from scratch as a result of the financial hardships that have resulted from her Crohn's, and though Medi-Cal covers the cost of the normally expensive treatments her body requires, it does come with some important caveats, in addition to some other factors that influenced the creation of this page:

Keep in mind--the above are just factors--we are not asking for support for these things, but they are reasons why we are asking for support for the following: the petition process to bring her husband and son here.

Taw is planning to tackle this process WITHOUT the lawyer in order to save on costs. So in order to achieve this, we are putting a goal of $10,000 to help Taw and her family achieve their goal. Though financial burden and hardships remain and her Crohn's will never go away, at the very least, if we are able to help Taw meet this financial goal and reunite her and her husband and their son, the Cousart family has a more fighting chance of being able to get on their feet and work together in order to tackle the hardships that remain even if we are able to raise the petition amount. Any and all offers are extremely appreciated, and ever since Taw has began living with our family she and our family alike have only received confirmation after confirmation that she is exactly where she needs to be.

If you've read this far, we thank you for giving us your time. If you cannot give, that is fair and reasonable--if you can share, that is just as appreciated as any dollar amount that people are willing to offer towards Taw and her family.

God bless you,

With love,

The Santos Family