Help Devyn get top surgery please!

Hello all,

My name is Devyn, I'm a 27 year old black non-binary disabled boy struggling with gender dysphoria and immense back pain.

I’m asking for help in funding my gender affirming surgery, which is a double mastectomy.

As of 12/12/21 my chest size is UK 40HH and weighs around 28lbs, and the constant bearing of this weight causes chronic pain throughout my entire back and shoulders.

Since puberty, I have never not known this pain, my chest started growing rapidly at 11 years old and by 13 I was a 32DD. It’s safe to assume for the last 15 years I have been in varying amounts of near constant agony.

My daily life has been greatly affected by this; I cannot sleep, sit, walk or even do the simplest of tasks without hurting. Any exercise more intense than walking is only possible if I am wearing two sports bras and a tight vest top to keep myself strapped down.

I have permanent scarring under my chest area from the skin constantly breaking. Even a little bit of sweat causes humidity and breakage, so I’m sure you can imagine what summer is like for me.

Even if I didn’t have gender dysphoria, this would still cause me physical pain even without the dysphoria. But because I am non-binary, this distress feels even worse.

This distress is exacerbated by my body image, which I have struggled with because of the over-sexualisation of my chest from such a young age. It made me even more aware of the fact that everyone perceived me as female, which is an identity I have never felt connected with. Unfortunately, due to this I felt like this was a role I had to conform to. So I have started my transition much later in life than I hoped.

I sought treatment from the NHS for a breast reduction before I fully realised my gender identity, but I was declined and was told there is no funding for this kind of surgery because it was for “aesthetic” reasons, despite overwhelming evidence of the damage my chest was causing to my physical and mental health.

This may not seem like a matter of life and death to them; but they do not realise the ammunition they provided for my suicidal thoughts. My chest has always been a source of self harm tendencies, I cannot look at my scar-riddled body without crying. I just wish to physically have the body that I have always dreamed of, so I can finally be comfortable in myself and my gender.

Starting on the NHS route to get hormones and top surgery now at this stage with all the pain I’m in would mean that I wouldn’t be able to have a first appointment for at least four years, and I can’t live with this pain for that long. Private surgery is expensive, but it’s something I desperately need. It is not something I have ever considered or dreamed of asking for, as someone who grew up below the poverty line, money was and still is scarce.

It would mean everything to me if you could help me get the body I have always dreamed of having. Any donation amount you can spare is incredibly welcome. Even if you can’t donate, please consider sharing my gofundme page so that more people can help.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,

All my love,

Dev xx