Hi ! My name is Ian Milano. I’m 25 years old and originally from Southern California. Ever since coming out as trans in my teens, I’ve been financially independent and have had to rely on my friends and community for gender affirmation. I currently work a minimum wage job in San Francisco, where I moved a little over a year ago after spending three years in New York City working freelance jobs in film and television production.

After years without health insurance, I was finally able to apply for top surgery this year and only just received the news that my surgery date will

be this April, much earlier than anticipated. Even though I now have an insurance plan through my employer, the plan will not be able to cover a

large portion of the surgeon fees or the anesthesiology and pathology fees. While the earlier surgery date is exciting, it also means I will need to front the cost of the surgery ($6,625 out-of-pocket for the surgeon fees alone) in

a much shorter amount of time. In order to keep my surgery date, I urgently need to raise enough funds to first cover these out-of-pocket medical fees, and use any remaining funds for rent and food during the month-long recovery period.

I appreciate anything anyone is able to donate and it would mean the world to me. I know most people in their 20s living in any big city face financial hardship, so consider sharing my gofundme with any financially stable adults in your life. It feels extremely out of my comfort zone to ask people for help, but I’ve been waiting to get this gender affirming surgery for seven years and finally feel secure enough in my living situation and support system to make it happen. Needless to say I am beyond ready to experience what it's like be perceived accurately, and the decline in anxiety that I know will follow.