Final Push! Darling's Top Surgery
Donation protected
Hello everyone,
I’ve spent the last year and a half working extremely hard to share my story with so many of you, through countless performances (including two US tours) and the text/audio release of A Stranger Sound, my personal “transgender coming-of-age story”. Developing and performing this project has brought me close to and taught me about so many people, perhaps most importantly myself.
But recently, my body and mind have been pushing me to take time off from performing to focus on something equally important to my personal development: that dreaded word “transition.” I struggle with finding the words to write about such a big topic, because I worry that whatever I say will be construed as an ideological statement, intellectualized, dissected, problematized. So I’ll try to keep it simple here: I’m a broke, working class artist who needs to raise money for top surgery because:
**It’s something that i’ve felt necessary to my mental health for over a decade, and it’s only gotten worse dealing with this feeling over time. For those of you who have not experienced gender dysphoria, I’ll maybe just refer you to a poem I wrote because it’s far too big a feeling for prose.
**The physical effects of binding (which I have done on and off for over a decade, and almost nonstop for the last three years) are quite destructive to the body, and as a manual laborer and physical performer the demands of my work compound this destruction, leading to chronic pain and perhaps long-term damage (imagine wearing a whalebone corset while doing high intensity physical activity … now imagine only taking it off to sleep and bathe)
**As I get further along down the road of taking testosterone, it becomes more physically, but also socially, dangerous to have an “inconsistent” body. It shouldn’t be this way, but it is, and it’s a fact that often accelerates the urgency of an individual’s transition.
I don’t like to go the sob story route when asking for money. I am a proud person and I don’t like asking for help at all. But the fact of the matter is that I am indeed a working class artist, struggling with my physical health and balancing multiple jobs just to get by. I have a generous, but also financially strapped family living thousands of miles away. I am picking up extra work to try to fill in a little extra savings, but on my own, I could probably raise 1/10 of my goal, and that’s with really doubling down on savings.
I had originally chosen Dr Hassal in Sydney, Australia after years of what I thought was thorough research. But after my consultation I decided to go with another doctor, Scott Mosser in San Fransisco. I started this fundraiser with a different funding goal in mind and now costs have changed a bit, and the money I am asking for will barely cover the cost of the surgery itself and not even begin to cover the cost of housing, food and airfare.
I have already had my consult with Mosser and would very much like to go with him. I am most of the way there but need every last donation I can get to make this work.
The target timeframe for the surgery is March 2018. If you have any questions about this please feel free to drop me a line.
For those of you who fear I will be traveling alone for a major surgery: my partner will be traveling with me (her airfare is not calculated in the breakdown of costs, as she will be covering it herself) and I have a few contacts in San Francisco who I can reach out to for help and information.
All donors will be thanked online (unless you send a note wishing to remain anonymous). Those who donate 25 euro and up will receive a signed copy of the new A Stranger Sound, which includes recordings of the spoken word as well as the music, along with a handwritten thank you letter. Those who donate 50 euro and up will receive all of this plus a signed copy of my next project when it materializes (hopefully spring 2018!). Donors of 100 euro and up will receive all this plus a special video shout out! And finally, donors of 500 euros and up will receive free copies of all my releases for life PLUS a thank you/producer credit on my next release.
If you’ve read this far, thank you!! I truly appreciate your attention. I would greatly welcome a donation of even the smallest amount you could give. Please follow me on Facebook , Instagram or Twitter for more detailed updates, and click the donate button below if you’d like to send a donation.
As always, Keep The Power ON
Darling Fitch
Photo credit: Melanie Ziggel Photography
I’ve spent the last year and a half working extremely hard to share my story with so many of you, through countless performances (including two US tours) and the text/audio release of A Stranger Sound, my personal “transgender coming-of-age story”. Developing and performing this project has brought me close to and taught me about so many people, perhaps most importantly myself.
But recently, my body and mind have been pushing me to take time off from performing to focus on something equally important to my personal development: that dreaded word “transition.” I struggle with finding the words to write about such a big topic, because I worry that whatever I say will be construed as an ideological statement, intellectualized, dissected, problematized. So I’ll try to keep it simple here: I’m a broke, working class artist who needs to raise money for top surgery because:
**It’s something that i’ve felt necessary to my mental health for over a decade, and it’s only gotten worse dealing with this feeling over time. For those of you who have not experienced gender dysphoria, I’ll maybe just refer you to a poem I wrote because it’s far too big a feeling for prose.
**The physical effects of binding (which I have done on and off for over a decade, and almost nonstop for the last three years) are quite destructive to the body, and as a manual laborer and physical performer the demands of my work compound this destruction, leading to chronic pain and perhaps long-term damage (imagine wearing a whalebone corset while doing high intensity physical activity … now imagine only taking it off to sleep and bathe)
**As I get further along down the road of taking testosterone, it becomes more physically, but also socially, dangerous to have an “inconsistent” body. It shouldn’t be this way, but it is, and it’s a fact that often accelerates the urgency of an individual’s transition.
I don’t like to go the sob story route when asking for money. I am a proud person and I don’t like asking for help at all. But the fact of the matter is that I am indeed a working class artist, struggling with my physical health and balancing multiple jobs just to get by. I have a generous, but also financially strapped family living thousands of miles away. I am picking up extra work to try to fill in a little extra savings, but on my own, I could probably raise 1/10 of my goal, and that’s with really doubling down on savings.
I had originally chosen Dr Hassal in Sydney, Australia after years of what I thought was thorough research. But after my consultation I decided to go with another doctor, Scott Mosser in San Fransisco. I started this fundraiser with a different funding goal in mind and now costs have changed a bit, and the money I am asking for will barely cover the cost of the surgery itself and not even begin to cover the cost of housing, food and airfare.
I have already had my consult with Mosser and would very much like to go with him. I am most of the way there but need every last donation I can get to make this work.
The target timeframe for the surgery is March 2018. If you have any questions about this please feel free to drop me a line.
For those of you who fear I will be traveling alone for a major surgery: my partner will be traveling with me (her airfare is not calculated in the breakdown of costs, as she will be covering it herself) and I have a few contacts in San Francisco who I can reach out to for help and information.
All donors will be thanked online (unless you send a note wishing to remain anonymous). Those who donate 25 euro and up will receive a signed copy of the new A Stranger Sound, which includes recordings of the spoken word as well as the music, along with a handwritten thank you letter. Those who donate 50 euro and up will receive all of this plus a signed copy of my next project when it materializes (hopefully spring 2018!). Donors of 100 euro and up will receive all this plus a special video shout out! And finally, donors of 500 euros and up will receive free copies of all my releases for life PLUS a thank you/producer credit on my next release.
If you’ve read this far, thank you!! I truly appreciate your attention. I would greatly welcome a donation of even the smallest amount you could give. Please follow me on Facebook , Instagram or Twitter for more detailed updates, and click the donate button below if you’d like to send a donation.
As always, Keep The Power ON
Darling Fitch
Photo credit: Melanie Ziggel Photography
Organizer
Darling Fitch
Organizer
Berlin
