Lost account email- any way to link to steam?

Reaching out here to see if anyone has advice. Here's my situation

- I have this old PoE account I'd like to keep due to past purchases
- I have the PoE account password and can log in, but I lost access to the account email (my university changed their mind about how long alumni get to keep accounts and turned off my decades old email)
- A friend gifted me PoE2 on steam. I'd love to play, but I don't want to make a new PoE account and lose everything on this one.

If I attempt to link my account to steam it asks for a 2FA code from email. If I try to change my email it does the same.

Are there any loopholes where I can link this account to a steam account?

Is there any way I can start playing and merge the 2 accounts later?

I've of course contacted support- they replied once very quickly, but since then it has been over a month. I'd love to be able to play so it doesn't feel like my friend bought me this game for nothing

Thanks Thomas, I'm mostly just curious if there's something I can control on my end, given that I have the login information for a PoE account and a valid PoE2 purchase on steam