The lawyers knew the law.

But not one of them had stood where those mothers stood, had felt the specific vertigo of loving a child whose life had a price tag you could not pay.

I had.

I knew what the cold corridor felt like, and the sleepless arithmetic, and the shame of not being able to save your own child with the strength of your own two hands.

And so when I read those applications, I did not read them as a trustee reviewing a request.