"You can not have babies", is what my family doctor told me at 17 years old. I had always experienced horrible menstrual cycles with excessive bleeding. However, i thought that was what everyone went through. As little girls we are told "periods hurt" and "you are going to hate them", so I believed nothing was wrong with me since this is how it is supposed to be. One cycle came and i was in so much pain that I finally went to my doctors office where I was told I had the reproduction system of a 60 year old woman. My doctor informed me that for me to have children would be a miracle. Fast forward four years and my miracle came. I was 21 and discovered that the nausea I was experiencing was not the stomach bug my little sister had, it was a baby. I was suprised and scared. I had dropped out of college my after my first year because of financial issues and even though I wanted to go back, I had not. I though to myself, "what kind of life would I be providing for this little miracle?" and from then on I worked through my entire pregnancy to repay the debt I owed my school. When my baby was born I was all set to return to school and all I had to do was figure out what I wanted to pursue. I had the summer to think it over and in the mean time, I could spend with my little one. Two weeks after my baby was born the doctor informed me and my partner that our son had sickle cell disease. There is no cure for sickle disease. A person with sickle disease will go through periods ranging from days to weeks of excruciating pain because their blood does not flow properly and in turn, limits the amount of oxygen recieved to their bones. Many patients describe the pain as bone crushing. I felt helpless. No mother wants their baby to ever feel any pain. It is one thing to take care of a child and a whole other thing to care for a chronically ill child. I wanted to help my baby as much as possible. I began my research on the disease, the effects on his body, potential cures, and the science and physiology of how his body worked. While doing so I found my love of biology and realized that no one would care for my baby the way I could. So I made the best decision all thanks to my baby, to become a nurse. During that summer my mother decided that she no longer wanted me and my baby to live with her. I moved into my best friend's dorm room. It was in the beginning of the pandemic and she was a student athlete on a team with a high rate of virus cases. I could not risk my baby getting sick. It was time to make the hardest decision of my life. I spoke to my in laws who were nurses and they agreed to take care of my baby throughout the semester. I booked a flight with the little savings I had and took my four month old to Canada from Texas and left him with two people I hardly knew. I returned to Texas with a broken heart but with the motivation of a strong mother. I had no job, no family, and not even my baby anymore but I did not let it get me down. I finished my first semester with a 4.0 GPA even though I spent countless hours crying over my child. I managed perfect grades even though my only source of income was the $1000 I recieved in a refund from FAFSA. I stretched that thousand over five months. The most challenging part of my life would be watching my baby reach all of his mile stones through a phone. Another challenge is not being able to comfort him when he cries or is sick. Many people would think what I did is selfish. However, I believe it is the most selfless thing I could have done. My baby is safe during a pandemic, he has access to free healthcare, and he is recieving twice as much love. My favorite moments is when I call him and he still recognizes my voice. It reminds me that I am still his mom and he loves me. The greatest reward I feel is the comfort of knowing that our future is going to be great. I am doing everything in my power to give us a beautiful and hopefully pain free life. This scholarship would be amazing and super impactful to my life because it would give me and my baby a fighting chance to reunite sooner rather than later. With this scholarship and hopefully many more, I would be able to bring my baby into a safe environment with me in our own home. In the future I want to be a nurse for children with chronic illnesses. So, I am in school and educating myself everyday on how I can become the best one possibe. I see myself and my son in five years living together and never missing another minute apart.