Hailey's Gender-Affirming Surgery

Hi, I’m Hailey, a 27yo disabled trans woman living in Naarm, looking for a way to access gender-affirming surgery.

Gender-affirming surgery is a vital way to enable the wellbeing of trans people. Bottom surgery is something I knew I needed long before I admitted that to myself. I knew how long the wait lists are and the impossibility of saving that much money, and how utterly out of reach it was for me. I had to promise myself I didn’t need it in order to build up the will to transition. I’m so glad I made that promise, even if it was an empty one.



As a disabled person who isn’t working, I am, in my (precariously) independent position, unfortunately struggling to save for hair removal, let alone an out of pocket surgery. Hair removal is necessary before the surgery itself which involves several expensive electrolysis sessions, and even longer to wait.

Because of the time it will take for me to save I can’t yet know what surgeon I would be going with or country they would be in, but from talking to people who have gone through the process, the total cost is about $25,000. Costs vary from surgeon to surgeon and depend on things like travel, international hospital stay, visas, insurance, psychiatrist appointments, COVID screening tests and meals while in recovery. Without saying anything for certain, it is unlikely that I will be able to find an option in Australia since there are extremely few surgeons currently offering these surgeries, whose waiting lists are years long, assuming they don’t exit the field and leave those waiting in the lurch (which anecdotally is a very common occurrence with any kind of gender-affirming surgery in Australia). Their techniques tend to be outdated compared to surgeons in Thailand, while the costs in Australia can be just as high as travelling internationally.

That $25,000 cost estimate doesn’t include hair removal, which can thousands of dollars on its own, resulting in the overall goal I have set for this fundraiser of $28,000. It is an incredibly daunting number, but I try to stay hopeful. I will keep this page up to date on more specific plans, goals and cost breakdowns as things get moving.

I have felt my humanity, energy, creativity drain away, as for most of my life I have been allowed to do and not to be. This is only one part of changing that trajectory but it is a critical part, and something I can’t do alone.

Any donation is immensely helpful and appreciated. Sharing this page with those who might want to donate, or to appropriate spaces, is just as valuable.

Thank you for taking the time to read my page!