Amy's surprise gender confirming surgery bills

Hello everyone! My name is Amelia Ernst(legally Brett Ernst), and I'm a big nerd who loves math. I'm a teaching assistant at the University of Georgia in Athens.
My hobbies are 3D art, math and, juggling. Here's how I looked pre-transition, I've come a very long way:



I started transitioning at 26 in a master's program. My facial dysphoria was
severe, I'd have a hard time looking in mirrors due to how strange and wrong my
face looked to me. Group photos especially would exacerbate my dysphoria, like
the one below



While out, I'd constantly be on edge, angry, and anxious all the time. I'd feel out of place, like people were constantly judging me, or that I was somehow disfigured
looking. Every time I made eye contact with someone I would panic slightly and
worry that they thought I was horrifically ugly, or that they'd realize I was trans.



Eventually, it got so bad I realized I had to find a way to fund facial surgery or drop out of grad school without finishing. Sometimes I was suicidal. To that end, I
regularly pulled 12 hour days tutoring to build a funding base for facial
feminization surgery, which I got on June 23rd.


After my surgery, even while still very swollen, the difference in my dysphoria was immense. I was happy, comfortable with myself, and my partner who was with me noticed an intense and positive change in my demeanor and self-confidence.


The positive changes only continued as healing progressed! Now I'm able to focus on my work and my studies in a way that I never could before. I now finally have the ability to be the active, social, and happy mathematician I knew I could always be, but I need your help to make that dream a reality.



The difference my surgery's made in my psychological well-being is astonishing. I'm no longer scared. I don't feel like a freak, and am not preoccupied with what people think of me. I feel so incredibly free of a burden that's shackled me all my life. But now this new problem's reared it's head due to a surprise bill and I'm just extremely tired.



So to detail my current monthly expenses next to my income:

Rent: 720
Surgeon's fees: 540
Average grocery fees a month: 240 dollars
ADHD Surprise Medicine bill: 370.20
Hospital fees: 620 a month for the next four months
ADHD medicine fees from now on: 50 dollars a month

My monthly income as a teaching assistant is 1787 dollars. Any money you
donate would go into my checking account(Under my legal name, Brett Ernst) to
be immediately spent on bills. I'll be posting receipts of transactions here as well
for everyone's peace of mind. 

On top of all this, Covid 19 also makes it difficult to do tutoring on the side to try
and make ends meet with my meager salary from UGA. Furthermore the
university will be putting the well-being and possibly lives of professors and TA's (like myself) on the line by teaching in-person in the Fall. So my usual solution to this problem, tutor to earn extra money, is completely impractical.

Currently, I'm stuck between paying my bills and being able to eat food next
month.  My life is not an extravagant one. I don't own a car, I don't drink or do any drugs, and most of my time is spent reading free mathematics papers on the
internet.

The funds from this GoFundMe will be tut directly towards my hospital fees from FFS (be specific about numbers if you can) as well as living expenses like rent and groceries to safely quarantine with a roof over my head while keeping my head
above water financially


Here is a picture of the fiend herself(me, pre-op) taking a break from work by
putting a box on her head to entertain her partner.

Any assistance you'd be willing to pass along would be lovely as I need
food to live and be happy. By helping me, you'd allow me to not have to choose
between one of the things that gives my life meaning, mathematics, and
mere survival. 

Thank you for reading this far, I really appreciate it!

Best,

Amelia Ernst