Help Izzy afford Top Surgery!

Izzy Adams is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Hello all! My name is Izzy Adams, and I’m a queer, nonbinary full-time veterinary medicine student currently living in Edinburgh, Scotland. In the wee amount of spare time I have, I work at a boarding cattery, and I enjoy writing, audiobooks, exercise, fire-spinning and playing table-top roleplaying games.

In a subconscious way, I’ve always known that I’m transgender. Though I didn’t have the exact words to describe myself as a child, I was happy to tell people that I wasn’t a girl or a boy and didn’t understand why people made such a fuss about it. Sadly, I grew up in an extremist religious environment. When it became clear I couldn’t outgrow or renounce my ‘sinful queer and transgender inclinations’, my church family disappeared and my biological parents attempted to dismiss this part of my identity. To put a long story short, there were a few exorcisms, one or two attempts at conversion therapy, and only then did I realise that I might have an easier time if I kept quiet about who I was for a bit.

However! This is not a sob story!

Since moving to study at Edinburgh University in 2021, I have been embracing my identity and shockingly, my life has become so much easier and happier as a result!

I started HRT in April 2023 and everyday I can see my body and voice changing to reflect who I truly am. I had adopted a quiet acceptance that my body would never truly fit, and to have this proven wrong fills me with such a deep joy. Even with the terrifying amount of growing hate towards transgender people in the UK, I am going to be loud and proud about my love for both myself as a trans person and for all my transgender siblings here and around the globe. Things can and do get better than you ever imagined they could and I want to help show other people that.

This is why I’ve decided to take the next big step in my transition and to pursue top surgery! As a veterinary medicine student, my degree is very intensive. It requires me to study for an average of twelve hours a day and spend my holidays working unpaid extra-mural studies placements. Although I’m very passionate about veterinary medicine so am happy to do all this, it restricts the number of hours I have left in my week to work for a wage. I also save as much money as I can, but ultimately, as the legal and political climate for trans Britons worsens, I’ve realised I don’t have time to waste in pursuing gender-affirming care. I am now asking for your assistance in this matter!

Your donations will help finance my access to one gender-affirming surgery - a bilateral mastectomy with free nipple grafts, performed in Edinburgh at Spire Healthcare by Dr Kenneth Stewart.

The money would be put towards:

Pre-and post-surgery surgeon consultations.
Letters of support from my current GP HRT provider.
Potential testing and imaging in the lead-up to the procedure and during recovery.
Hospital charges and expenses during recovery period directly following the surgery.
Post-procedure recovery care medical equipment.
Continued access to HRT and post-surgery checkups & follow up care.

I’ve had severe chest dysphoria since puberty and this surgery would transform my life and self-confidence. Anything you can give will be so gratefully received, including sharing this fundraiser with your community. If you are currently not in a position to give or share this fundraiser either, that’s okay! From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.

Thank you all! Whoever you are out there, know that you are loved. Keep fighting on and hoping for better, you deserve to live your best life!

Izzy