Raju Rage has been a vital educator, vocal campaigner for social justice, and leader of transformative work on trans health care as well as a community organiser for BIPOC communities in London and worldwide for many decades. A talented baker, chef and one of the best artists we know.

They have fed us, taught us, lifted us, and fought alongside us. Raju is one of the people who has helped shape queer and trans BIPoC communities and has been a constant source of wisdom, knowledge, and has radically contributed to discourse on political art, queer performance, archiving Trans, Disabled and BIPOC histories and community organising for over 25 years where they've been part of the fabric of queer community in London and further afield. Where they have been a transformative part of many of our lives. They have supported many people and have impacted the lives of many younger trans people of color, in grass roots creative organising, campaigning, funding panels, mentorship, with radical trans health care workshops, and queer poc spaces. They have been a vital friend and community member and knowledge producer to countless folk, communities, artists and gender non conforming folk in Europe, North America, India and beyond. Regardless of their achievements, what they have done or not, Raju, like everyone else, deserves health care. Community, to us, means to uplift one another when we cannot ourselves. Now it is our turn to give back to Raju.

Why are we Crowdfunding?

Raju lives with several chronic autoimmune diseases and conditions that affect and disrupt the daily quality of their life, and ability to carry out everyday tasks.

Unfortunately, over the course of the last 8 months Raju has suffered with severe unexplained symptoms and their health has been rapidly deteriorating. Over the past 6 months Doctors have done a series of tests and investigations, and they still have not pinpointed what’s wrong.

Doctors are having to do further tests in order to diagnose the root cause of Raju’s condition, and identify the underlying cause. These current symptoms are causing their health to worsen, they are not able to absorb nutrients from food, and their quality of life is significantly negatively impacted because of fatigue, pain, and worryingly, malabsorption and significant weight loss.

Many will be aware that in the last 5 years we have seen a rise in the aggressiveness and the worsening of autoimmune conditions and symptoms. Many disabled people have silently dealt with the detrimental impact of this and have tried to manage the increasingly negative disabling effects as best as they can, meanwhile government cuts worsen access to health care treatments, while the medical profession still remains largely unclear about the underlying causes of autoimmune health conditions and the factors driving their worsening.

Dealing with these worsening symptoms as a disabled, trans person, whilst navigating access to health care, for an autoimmune chronic condition, on top of of being a trans person, just makes it even more difficult to access adequate treatment and appropriate levels of care.

Raju is registered with specialist consultants and hospital clinics in the UK and has had investigations, been diagnosed with and had treatment for these conditions. They have also needed to self manage their health conditions with major lifestyle changes, including herbal medicine and diet for many years. They have previously had some procedures and success with different doctors with various treatments on and off throughout the years as well as dealing with failures of the health system. Even whilst managing as best they can, they often have had to deal with unpredictable and extreme flare ups of their condition which unfortunately are becoming more frequent. This has become a regular part of what managing the conditions Raju lives with entails and it has impacted their life considerably.

Raju is based between Mexico & the UK. They currently live in Mexico as their life partner is Mexican and due to prohibitive UK immigration legislation it’s not possible for them to do a 50/50 split between both countries. Raju continues to keep a UK passport, citizenship and pay taxes as they often return for their UK based family, for work and to access the NHS for pre-existing medical conditions and health crises.

Unfortunately because of a rare bleeding condition they have been refused access to health insurance, and the free health care coverage available for Mexican residents is only basic and does not support treatment of acute autoimmune complex conditions. The UK has long waiting lists for procedures.

This has meant they have been heavily relying on their own resources to pay for private health care costs, as well as living costs. They have already almost used up nearly all of their own personal resources to cover the now spiralling medical care costs of multiple testings, to keep up with the increasing pressure to find the cause of their rapidly declining health.

Their capacity to work has been reduced because they are currently so unwell. Also remote or accessible work in their field is getting harder and harder to come by. They have lost income they would normally have been able to obtain previously.

We are hoping we can come together to support our dear friend who we love so much, and is in financial need right now — to cover the extra costs of these urgent medical tests, access to health care, and help pay for a plane ticket to London in an emergency if that’s what’s needed. Private health care is the only option available to them right now since autoimmune conditions are complicated and there would be long wait lists coming back to the UK for NHS treatment. They have no other help to pay for these tests, treatments and medicine that are acutely and desperately needed right now.

Even though it’s incredibly hard to do so, to put yourself out there like this. We, as friends of Raju, are helping out and have set up this fundraiser. We think it’s time to get a little extra help. We are asking now for community support, no matter how little, it will go towards helping our friend get access to urgent diagnostic medical care.

We want to help our dear dear friend to find the medical answers, and vital urgent treatment they need to find out what’s going on with their health.

We also are hoping to accommodate emergency funds to evacuate them back to the UK if necessary - And to help with covering future tests, doctors appointments and post medical care.

We are also allocating small allowances to help cover living costs whilst they are out of work.

Any unspent money will be redirected to other funds and donated to trans health care projects in the UK and Mexico.

Projects:

Lleca: an organisation in Mexico for women and LGBT+ persons who live on the street and are at risk https://www.instagram.com/lleca_org?igsh=eWR2ZTY5ZHE1MmY4

UK: We Exist Trans Healthcare fund https://www.weexist.co.uk/

Transparency - how these funds are needed and what will it go towards

Health appointments: x 6 = £300

Nutritionist: medical recovery strategy = £200

Tests: bloods, stools and tomography - £400

Procedures (endoscopy + colonoscopy + biopsies) - £600

Meds - £200

Contingency costs (more meds + appointments) £300

Subtotal: £2k

*Flight to UK in emergency: £1000

*Covering living costs: £1000

Donations to trans health projects in Mexico + UK - £500min + any unspent money

Total: £4500

I'm Raisa Kabir, a good friend of Raju's helping organise the funds for them with their consent and help

Hopefully we can pull together enough to cover paying for these urgently needed healthcare provisions. We know that there are so many needed fundraisers right now, and the world is a super scary place right now — so hopefully we can rotate how much we give, or share this fundraiser to as many people as possible even if we can't donate right now.