I came up the civilian path: flying on weekends, scraping, studying, sacrificing (actually my wife did the sacrificing - I did the studying)...finally getting a job that paid about half what I made as a computer geek and being lucky to get that!
But I stuck with it, taught students, demo'd helicopters for buyers, swept the hangar...fast-forward and I was in my office at the airport where I flew for a television station. I was in the public eye, and guys would bring me their sons and say, "My son wants to be a helicopter pilot. Help me."
And I would take his son into my office where I always said the same thing to them: "If there is anything in life that you can imagine that could make you quit, then quit now. Because if you can be made to quit you will be."
And so I say that to you. But if there's not, then come aboard! There's plenty of room. Right now I'm a base manager for a hospital based EMS program. I've got a shiny almost-new EC135, a stable job, my mortgage is current...but along the way I passed up a lot of opportunities to quit.
I don't know how much flying means to you. But I can say that is there's anything you would be content doing apart from flying, do that. If there's not, then fly.