April's Path to Surgery Needs Your Help

I never imagined I'd have to do this, but I don't know what else to do and I don't know where else to turn. My name is April, and I'm a 48-year-old transgender woman. I'm actively transitioning and undergoing hormone replacement therapy, with the ultimate goal of gender-affirming bottom surgery. But right now, I'm stuck, because the one thing standing between me and surgery is electrolysis.

To be clear, this isn't some kind of cosmetic procedure. This is a very necessary pre surgical step. Without it the surgeons won't do the surgery. For bottom surgery, the area being operated on must be cleared of hair beforehand, and it can't grow back.

I'm currently getting two procedures done every month. Every session is two hours each and each session is $300.

It's also an hour's drive away from my home, so getting there and back on a regular basis need gas to get there and back.

I'm asking for $6000 so as to cover ten months of treatments

For a while, I was managing with my savings. But now, my savings are running dry, and I'm being forced to start charging them to my credit cards because I can't get a loan. It's frustrating and heartbreaking to be in this position, knowing that without these treatments, I can't have the surgery I've worked so hard to prepare for.

This is the end of a long road for me. I have known I was different my entire life. Even as young as five or six, before I had the words to describe it, I felt it deep inside: I wasn't meant to be a boy. My soul is female, my mind is female, and I need to make my body align as closely as possible. I know not every transgender person needs to go this far, but my body dysphoria demands nothing less.

I already took a huge step over this last year by dropping nearly 100 pounds in ten months, to come in under the maximum BMI target for the surgery, and I can't let those ten months mean nothing. Now the only thing left is this. Electrolysis.

The entirety of your donation will go to helping to pay for the electrology procedures, or the credit card debt that they generate, and occasionally buying a tank of gas so I can get to the procedures and home again. If, for some reason, I'm cleared for surgery sooner than ten months, any excess will be used for expenses related to the surgery itself and recovery, and I promise to keep everyone updated.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.