- F
Hey all. Alex here.
After two and a half years of waiting and covid-related delays, my top surgery is finally booked for October 12 *(EDIT: Rescheduled to Dec 9). It's been a long long wait to get here, and man am I looking forward to the gender euphoria it will bring.
So why am I fundraising?
I'll level with you - I applied for an application to withdraw from my superannuation fund (for the non-Australians, that's our government-mandated retirement fund). However, I'm extremely, extremely worried my withdrawal application (under compassionate medical grounds) might be rejected, or approved too late.
My application was delayed because I didn't get all the paperwork from the various medical professionals needed in time for early submission.
Cost Breakdown:
Here's an accurate breakdown of my costs:
- 4,835 out of pocket for the surgery (estimate). Total upfront cost is around 6,070.
- 1,550 (estimate) for the anaesthetist (limited government rebate available).
- 4,000-5,000 for the hospital overnight stay (no government rebate available, and no choice for a public hospital stay). When the hospital provides me with a more accurate cost, I'll update this figure.
I'm looking at 11,350 if everything goes as planned.
Where am I financially?
I applied for 6,385 from my super fund, and I have just over 4,000 of emergency savings in my name. I fall short even if my application is approved.
Furthermore, as a chronically ill and disabled person, eating up all my savings is a stressful situation to find myself in. I had planned to have more savings at this point to completely self-fund, but my sudden type 1 diabetes diagnosis last year, and ~mystery chronic illness testing~ has REALLY taken a hit to my savings and ability to save. I'm now left with a difficult decision to have to reach out and accept help for this surgery to go ahead.
Here's my current fundraising plan:
- Start the go-fund me asking for 6,000 in the best-case scenario my super withdraw is approved (6,000 will cover my hospital fees, + a tiny financial buffer if anything costs more than expected).
- If I don't hear back on my super withdrawal application before the 6th of October *(EDIT: December 1st), OR if my request is rejected, I'll bump the go-fund me to 11,000.
- If I bump the fund-raiser to 11,000, and somehow, miraculously, my super withdraw is approved AND/OR I've raised more than I need - any excess funds I'll be immediately donating to TransHub. TransHub is an Australian program dedicated to providing education and support to the local transgender community. TransHub was there when I needed it most, so if the opportunity arrises to "pay it forward", I'd be glad to.
How can I help?
Donate!
If you don't have funds to spare, please don't donate! Instead, you can help me by boosting the message - sharing on social media, in discords, with friends. Every bit helps.
Those of you in countries with a higher currency power - UK and US especially - the AUD is worth about or under half of your home currency, so any donation you make is worth double the amount. That's double the donation impact!
In closing:
Thank you so much for reading, and fingers crossed it all goes well. I can't wait to be tit-free.
Take a picture of my cat, Lilo, for the road.
xxx - Alex