Being a disabled trans person in America is tough right now – with Medicaid cuts, new work requirements to qualify, continual attacks on trans rights, and diminishing chances of survival for people like us. I'm Rian, a friend of Bigby, and I'm fundraising on its behalf. Bigby (it/he/she) is unable to work due to his disabilities, and is aiming to fundraise $3000 to pay for urgent medical needs, mobility aids and other life expenses.

Currently, Bigby has an electric wheelchair for inside its apartment, but getting the chair in and out of their inaccessible unit is too taxing on him, so we’re fundraising to get Bigby a second wheelchair which will allow her to access the outdoors and do things out of the house with her partner and their two kids.

Bigby lives with moderate-severe myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) – a multisystemic neuroimmune disease that seriously limits its ability to care for itself, socialize, work, and even tolerate light, sound, and other forms of stimulation, and causes post-exertional malaise (PEM), which can manifest as flu-like symptoms, low-grade fever, migraine, body aches, and exacerbated fatigue.

Bigby also lives with severe postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) which makes sitting, standing, exerting, and otherwise being vertical difficult due to heart rate spikes, blood pressure changes, and dizziness. Walking is also painful due to Bigby’s Trochlear dysplasia, and she’s had one surgery to treat it, but requires another to walk pain-free.

Up until 2023, Bigby worked two jobs for most of its adult life, until becoming ill and being fired for being disabled. He’s an artist, disability advocate, and co-parent of two kids. Financing this wheelchair and Bigby’s survival needs will allow it to have adventures where he can go out with the kids, make more art, and carve out more time for the life-sustaining rest and joy that folks with ME need. It told me that the kids are always telling him how much they miss him, and he wants nothing more than to be with them.

Bigby and I have been friends for just under a year. We met through mutual friends within shared community. Its presence in my life has been instrumental in my understanding and acceptance of my neurodivergence, and it has been a wonderfully loving community member who has welcomed me with open arms as I transition from a cross-country move and build community in new-to-me Seattle, seeking medical care for my own disabilities.

It astounds me how the people going through the most are usually the first to show up for others going through it, and Bigby is no exception. In fact, he’s a particularly powerful example of how disabled people help keep each other alive and as well as we can be. There have been many days where Bigby’s presence as a friend has comforted me, helped me feel included in a big and scary world, and her friendship has greatly helped me in learning to love myself with kindness and patience. Bigby shows up for its community – can we show up for it?

Unfortunately, due to the nature of Bigby’s disabilities, many jobs and side hustles are inaccessible to it, and she is majorly flaring from trying to survive in a world that’s falling apart at the seams, not built for disabled folks, and actively persecuting people like him. One of the many reasons securing funds for Bigby is crucial is due to the risk of her getting sicker or causing permanent damage to its body and brain if he continues to push himself.

Trans and disabled people are consistently denied adequate medical care and food/housing security, and many of us push ourselves to the point of collapse, which can lead to a dangerous permanent reduction in our baseline functioning. If Bigby can’t rest, he may not be able to fully recover from the effects of his recent car crash, let alone process his extensive traumas and manage life’s necessities. Bigby has done everything in his power to manage this situation by himself, and it's up to us to save each other. Collective care is resistance!

This past year, Bigby has become too sick to be able to do much of what he loves. Securing funds would give her the ability to rest as much as is necessary, and if Bigby can pay its bills this month and next, he may be able to improve his baseline functioning. Bigby dreams of a future where it can spend time with its partner and children, engage in its interests, and experience more joy.

We are aiming to crowdfund $4000 as soon as possible to help Bigby secure the resources he needs to survive and recover from ongoing/“rolling” PEM. Meeting our basic needs relieves a major amount of stress on our nervous systems, and having enough funds to remain flexible as bills and needs shift and pile up, can help Bigby feel not only physically and emotionally safe, but supported, loved, and able to recover and grow.

Funds raised will go directly to Bigby for the purposes of buying a second electric wheelchair, paying rent, medical expenses, and other bills. Bigby needs us – let’s show up for it like it has shown up for us and show it that it matters and is worthy of support, no matter how hard it is to ask for it! No amount of support (financial or otherwise) is too small. Thank you in advance <3

- Rian (he/they/she)