<div>This September, a group of friends are running a half marathon to raise money for trans people in Alberta to access gender affirming surgery.
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<div>Together, our goal is to raise $20,000 so that two people in Alberta can access gender affirming surgery that might otherwise remain out of reach.
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<div>Every dollar donated goes directly to Cerulean Surgical into a dedicated account created specifically for this fundraiser. The funds will only be used to support access to gender-affirming surgery, and recipients will be selected through a lottery administered by Cerulean after the fundraiser closes.
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<div><strong>How you can help</strong>
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<div>❤️ <strong>Donate!</strong> We need 2000 people to donate only $10 to make this possible
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<div><strong>Share this fundraiser</strong> with your friends, family and community.
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<div>️‍⚧️ Need support accessing surgery? If you're trans and live in Alberta, Cerulean will share information about the lottery process once fundraising has concluded.
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<div><strong>Why we're doing this</strong>
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<div>For me, Mak, this story is personal.
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<div>I hate running. Next to understanding taxes and raising a child, its my top third thing that feels impossible. So if you're wondering why someone who avoids running signed up for a half marathon... it's not because I suddenly love cardio. It's because for a long time, my body was in freeze. My legs felt heavy and I couldn't run more than 200m without feeling an asthma attack coming. Trauma does that.
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<div>Top surgery changed my life.
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<div>It changed my relationship with my own body enough that I could start to come out of freeze. And now I'm running... because I can. Because I finally like being in this body enough to want to do more with it. To want to be outside, to feel my heart beat and my feet move me forward.
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<div>In Canada, people are waiting over a year just to get an intake appointment for gender-affirming surgery, never mind the surgery itself. In Alberta, the public system is taking sometimes five years for people to go through. And for some people on that list, the wait isn't just frustrating, it's dangerous. The same research that shows surgery cuts suicidal ideation by 44% also means the reverse is true: <strong>every year of delay is a year someone spends at higher risk of death by suicide.</strong>
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<div>This isn't cosmetic surgery. It's survival.
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<div>And right now, on top of all of that, we're watching politicians debate our bodies like we're a policy question instead of people. Laws being introduced. Rights being rolled back. Healthcare framed as something dangerous instead of something life-saving.
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<div>Some days it makes me feel completely helpless.
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<div>When I had top surgery, I didn't get there alone. My wife stood with me through every part of it. Friends fundraised and donated. People I didn't know donated to help me get surgery. What all of that told me, underneath the financial help, was we see you and we want this future for you too.
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<div>The team at Cerulean created an environment where I felt seen, respected and genuinely cared for. When I shared this fundraising idea with them, they joined me. Not because they love running (they'll happily tell you they don't), but because they believe in making this care more accessible.
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<div>Now I want to offer that same feeling to someone else.
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<div>And so do many others ...
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<div><strong>Today our running team already includes trans and non-binary people, allies and members of the Cerulean surgical team.</strong>
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<div>We've all come together because we believe access to gender-affirming surgery shouldn't depend on someone's bank account.
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<div><strong>Why a lottery?</strong>
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<div>We know there will always be more need than one fundraiser can meet.
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<div>Rather than asking people to compete by sharing the hardest parts of their lives or trying to determine who is "most deserving," Cerulean will administer a lottery for eligible applicants after the fundraiser closes.
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<div>It isn't a perfect solution, but we believe it's one of the fairest and most dignified ways to distribute these funds.
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Laura Dowling

Cheryl Corrigan

James Kennedy

Anonymous

Kathryn Stone

Gail Scott

Sarah Lowry

Lucien Rhys

Julie Fesseler

Stephanie Exton

Joel Fox

Rachel Dunlap

Mich Lam

Carolyn Girard

Mark Thomas

Melanie Schultz

Running for Access to Gender Affirming Surgery

Running for Access to Gender Affirming Surgery

Still $8,565 to go. Help us build momentum.