Help release Stevie from PhD hell

Hiya

As most of you know I have been doing my PhD for approximately 700 years and it's really time I finish.

The manuscript is written, the supervisors are pleased, but the biggest hurdle facing me is that I've been advised that my thesis would benefit from the skills of a professional proofreader/editor who can do the attention to detail work on the referencing and formatting that is just not my forte.

My PhD is about mothers who go to prison. In NSW sentencing law, if you're being sentenced to prison, a judge can take all kinds of things into account. They can consider if you're sick, if you are likely to have an extra hard time in prison because of the type of crime you committed, whether or not there's a global COVID pandemic or even if you're old. However, there are a number of barriers to considering the fact that someone is a mother. Often, my research has shown, it's not considered at all.

I think the project is really valuable and I want to get it out into the world and out of my life.

As most of you also know, I've had a totally tumultuous journey from the start of my PhD in 2019 to now. My employment at UOW as a casual tutor came to an abrupt end due to COVID. I came out as trans and began my transition in 2020. I've spent about $17,000 on gender affirming surgeries during my PhD period which takes a toll on the old chequebook. For those who aren't aware, I've also been diagnosed with a genetic condition affecting my connective tissue, and last year my knees decided that they don't like staying together as one functional joint and that instead they'd prefer to dislocate regularly which has been pretty horrid, and has also led to a whole bunch of unplanned spending on medical bills and assistive tech like a wheelchair and crutches to be able to keep getting around. Throughout this whole period, I've been a sole carer to my wonderful kid, now aged 8.

I'd be profoundly grateful if people were able to chip in, even a little bit (really I'm hoping here that I'll have enough people that are willing to give $20 or so that it will work out). I've attached the quote from the editor for reference.