My name is Gabriela Hernández, I’m 23 years old, and I’m pursuing a master’s degree in history. I’m also a research assistant and editor at the Center for Investigation and Digital Archive of Afrodescendence (Centro PRAFRO). After 9 years of chronic pelvic pain, extreme fatigue, feeling faint due to blood loss, nausea induced by severe pain, fruitless hospital visits, and being repeatedly dismissed by medical professionals, I decided to seek help from a specialist in endometriosis and pelvic pain. I currently experience pain on a single day of my life, ranging from uncomfortable sensations to days when I can barely get out of bed from full-body inflammation, as well as pelvic pain that shoots up my back and down my thighs, sciatica pain, pain when using the bathroom, digestive issues, swollen lymph nodes, and frequent infections. The pain is bad enough on some days that even feeling fabric on my skin is painful. It’s extremely frustrating to miss out on school, work, and extracurricular activities, all of which I’m profoundly passionate about, because I’m ill and the other treatments I’ve tried haven’t worked. At only 23, it feels like I’m living in a completely different world than my peers, and it’s taken a toll on my mental health as well. After discussing all this with the specialist, she told me I gave every sign of having endometriosis and sent me to pelvic floor therapy as well as an excision surgery coming up on April 28th that will be accompanied by IUD insertion under the surgical anesthesia, given that penetration causes me severe pain. I have a little over a month to find the funds to afford the surgery as well as the medical costs associated with it, which is a great burden as a student who is barely able to work 20 hours a week due to this condition and with a salary of less than $11.00, most of which goes on rent, power, and other bills. This surgery is the only thing giving me hope that I can live an improved life without experiencing extreme pain along the way, so I’m doing all I can to come up with the money. I am deeply thankful to the Endo Excision Fund for All for helping me raise funds to cover the surgery.