Hi, I’m Tommy and I’m a trans man. I’m reaching out for some help for me to have top surgery and to be able to afford fees that come with changing my name and sex marker legally.

Top surgery isn’t covered by my insurance company and I don’t have a true estimate yet but I know the highest could be around $10,000. Getting this surgery would change my life for the better and it’s been a dream of mine for years. I’ve been lucky enough to be on testosterone for almost 2 years but one thing that has been bothering me, even on testosterone, is my chest. My chest gives me major dysphoria and I’d love to be able to wake up one day and breathe easily knowing I don’t have to worry about it anymore. My doctor has already given me a surgeon to call but I wanted to set this up beforehand because you can never be to sure.

Ever since I was little I had a knew I was different. I never liked dresses, hated pink, and absolutely hated having my hair down. In first grade I have this memory of getting papers back from a test and scribbling out my deadname and writing ‘Tom’ instead. As I got older I decided that I needed to get comfortable with my deadname, even though I had never liked it, but it got to a point where I couldn’t do that anymore. On February 28th, 2017 I came out to my family as non-binary with a new name, Jamie. I’ve originally chose this name because at the time I thought of myself as neutral but as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to realise I’m not non-binary, I’m a trans man. With that I realised that I’ve always loved the name I chose from my childhood too and so that’s what I’m going with. Names are always a tricky thing but I’ve come up with something I really love now which is Thomas as my first name and James as my middle name. Both names hold such a strong connection to me and I could never let one go.

Throughout the years the one thing that I have known for sure is my discomfort. Top surgery would be lifesaving for me and I appreciate any help I can get. Thank you for reading.