<div>My name is Charlie and I am a 33-year-old nonbinary transmasculine person (they/he pronouns) who is preparing for a gender affirming surgical procedure that I've been wanting since I hit puberty, 22 years ago. I will be adding more of my story here shortly but wanted to introduce myself for now and give a brief outline of what I'm seeking fundraising assistance with.
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<div>On June 17th 2026, I will be getting top surgery to relieve decades of dysphoria and chronic pain from attempting to minimize and bind my chest for the majority of my life. I am only able to take about 2 weeks of paid leave from work, though I may need to take additional weeks of short-term disability (with a 40% pay cut), depending on how the surgery and my healing goes. I am a licensed social worker working in community mental health, at a non-profit serving LGBTQ and other marginalized youth in Detroit. I love my job, but due to the nature of my work and my debt from the degrees I needed to obtain in order to get here, I am living very paycheck-to-paycheck and do not have any funds on hand at present to cover the procedure or related recovery costs, especially if I need to take temporary short-term disability. I considered continuing to put off the procedure until I'm able to save up enough to cover the costs but am choosing to prioritize my physical and mental health during a time of uncertainty about the future of gender affirming care in the USA by moving forward with it and doing my best to ask for help carrying the load.
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<div>While I don't expect donations to cover the entire out-of-pocket cost of my top surgery, I am setting my goal high just in case! I will be attempting to work out a payment plan with my surgeon's medical system billing office, for any remaining costs that I am not able to cover with funds raised from this campaign. Below, I've attached screenshots of the estimate I received today for the main procedure's costs, with certain personal information redacted for my safety/privacy. You may notice that this estimate is lower than the amount I am asking for - here's a breakdown of what else I've included in my total goal amount:
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<li>Procedure costs for skin grafts, which I will also receive on 6/17/26 related to the main procedure. I was given a verbal estimate over the phone of anywhere between approximately $200-900 but am working on getting a version of that in writing to post here for transparency as well. (<strong>NOTE: </strong>We won't know where my cost falls within that large range, until the surgery is complete. If it is on the lower end (which, without getting into too much detail, I highly doubt it will be), then any remaining funds will be donated to a nonprofit providing access to gender affirming care for LGBTQ youth in the area!)
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<li>A little extra to cover unpredicted procedure costs, as well as items needed for my recovery (which I'm also working on a breakdown of, to post here soon) including but not limited to: open-front chest binders to wear while I'm healing, disposable wipes for cleaning myself as I'll be unable to shower for a bit (ew, I know), a wedge pillow because I am supposed to sleep with my head and chest elevated on my back, scar tape and cream, etc. Donations will go to procedure costs before any of these items, and as mentioned above, any extra will be donated vs. spent on recovery "luxuries" beyond what's listed.
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<div>Here is the overview of what the main procedure will cost. A detailed breakdown is in the campaign photos!
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</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/103255255_1778017299783182_r.png" width="100%" />
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<div>I am not the greatest at reaching out for help, but I also know that I cannot receive it if I do not make myself vulnerable in asking for it. I am grateful in advance for any donations or signal boosts this campaign receives. I will return soon when I have a more detailed breakdown of the bulleted financial items, and some reflections/writing I'd like to share about my gender identity journey and what this surgery means to me. For now, thank you for taking the time to read this! :)
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<div>P.S. I recently found this picture of myself from 5th grade, around the time I (and unfortunately, the mean ass girls on my soccer team, lol) realized I was probably transgender. Shoutout to that little dude, they knew what was up way back when and I'm sure he'd be thrilled to know I'm getting surgery in a month and a half.
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</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/103255255_1778018655442372_r.jpg" width="100%" />
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Lauren Walker

Beth Mitchell

Kai -

Mark Zito

Tori LaConsay

Anonymous

Paige Mikolowski

Lauren McCormack

April Wesolowski

Leah Dixon

Brian Daniels

Erick Vega

John Kelly

Cecilio Palacio

Sahana Prasad

Charlie's Long-Awaited Top Surgery Fund :)

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Enter your donation forCharlie's Long-Awaited Top Surgery Fund :)