Hi there,

Firstly thank you for taking the time to visit my fundraiser.

I am a trans man with a pretty sizeable chest. I experience a great deal of gender dysphoria (i know i am a man, my body grew organs most cis-normative folk would call female.) I have Psoriatic arthritis, Palindromic arthralgia, depression and anxiety. These prevent me from holding down a job, which is frustrating in itself, especially because this severely impacts on my ability to exercise in a way that would have any significant impact on weight loss.

For the past several years i have been pursuing top surgery (bilateral mastectomy) on the NHS. Unfortunately i have always been overweight and despite spending 18 months under the dietician (prior to the pandemic) I have failed to lose a significant enough amount of weight to qualify for surgery in the UK.

The UK absolute top limit for "elective surgeries" is 40. My BMI is currently 50. The NHS prefer a BMI of 30, In order to have a BMI of 30 i would LITERALLY need to lose half of my bodyweight. Such surgery is not without risk. However, I genuinely feel that the risk of suicide is greater than the risk of the operation.

I HAVE found a surgeon in Michigan, USA whose weight restrictions i WILL fit into, who would be able to do the surgery in a year or so. But surgery abroad is not covered by the NHS, which brings us to why we're here today.

I am hoping that i can raise £8000 to fully fund the surgery and travel to the USA. (Once i am in the states, My Partner and friends will help with accommodation and care/help while i recover enough to travel home.)

I really didn't want to have to ask for help, but i have exhausted all of the other options...my dear friends have finally convinced me that it is time to crowdfund, because at this point i am losing hope.

I have been on testosterone for about 4 years at this point and have a pretty epic beard...but also massive chesticles....this means that i encounter a lot of transphobia when out in the world and that is having a significant impact on my mental health.

I realise money is tight for all of us right now. But every little helps.

Thank you for reading and *hugs* if wanted.

You can read more about why i am doing this and learn more about my transition at How did i get to this point?