Avery's Fund for a Life-Changing Procedure (Top Surgery)

Hi, my name is Avery and I’m giving you the opportunity to help me raise funds for an upcoming procedure. Top surgery is a procedure that helps those feel fully comfortable in their body.

From age 5-11, without any conscious knowing of the differences within all that is gender expression, those would find me wearing a wetsuit to the pool at age 5 (lol), tank tops and hand-me-down board shorts to the pool and beach from ages 6-7 and rash guards everywhere possible from ages 7-13.

I had never thought twice about the way I was expressing myself, I just felt absolutely awesome, like any human should, until around age 12, when the world started to view me as a “young woman” and my body started to change in ways that I didn’t exactly resonate with. I started to second guess the ways I was expressing myself as the world saw me as something different all of the sudden.

I never felt like I was a boy, but also never felt like a girl, in a way..just oddly somewhere in between. Once a bit grown up, I started finding ways that I could help myself feel more comfortable, or at least more like myself. Around age 12, I went into the garage and found an ace bandage, wrapped it around my chest, put socks in my underwear and stared at the mirror in my childhood bedroom. I felt somewhat close to unstoppable, aside from the fact that I felt I had to do that in the first place. As I had my foot holding my bedroom door closed with an anxious feeling like I would be in the biggest trouble if anyone saw me doing so, (..now looking back, i know i would gratefully never be in trouble for anything of the sort..) I then removed the bundled up socks as it didn’t feel 100% correct and then felt- well, pretty much unstoppable. It wasn’t the need to be in a boys body, it was the need to be what I felt was my freest self.

There was a day where my Mom, sister and I went to a public pool. I was about 7y/o and I put on my rash guard and board shorts and once at the pool, I noticed all the boys I was playing with weren’t wearing rash guards…I went over to my Mom and begged her to let me take off my rash guard. Obviously the answer was “Um, no?” lol. I then went down the waterslide and came out with no rash guard on. The story was that a bolt on the slide had snagged the rash guard and ripped it off… Mom’s response was basically a “Yeah right.” HAHA. So I ended up wearing the rash guard anyway.

For the past 4 years or so, I’ve been using safer binding techniques to help with the distress caused by all that I had never felt comfortable or resonated with. These techniques are used by millions who feel the exact same way I do, if not worse. This includes binding tape, or compression binders that you can’t wear while swimming, working out, or sleeping. Both of these techniques can cause long term damage to our bodies, which is why I am finally resulting to this procedure, (which is the masculinization of the chest.) after my entire life of something feeling inherently incorrect.

If you happened to know and love me as a child, gifted me your son’s hand-me-downs, nerf guns or action figures for a birthday..all I can say is, thank you. Some people took me as I was and absolutely loved me for it, and others, maybe not so much. What I do remember most, is those that did and how comfortable those families made me feel. So thank you again. If you’d like to donate to all that insurance won’t cover, please do so. Even $5 will make the difference needed for this procedure.

And for the last time at least within this message, thank you.

Avery