Help Sophia Bell Access Top Surgery

Hello! My name is Sophia Bell. I am a 31-year-old nonbinary person in Baltimore raising money for top surgery.

Since puberty, my chest has been a massive source of mental and physical discomfort. While I did not have the vocabulary to explain why I felt so unhappy and strange in my body at the time, I realized over a decade later that I am non-binary. Having figured out that I was not the gender I was assigned at birth, I gained a new understanding of why I had always struggled with my naturally large chest and some of my other stereotypically “feminine” physical features. My gender dysphoria also was identified as a driving force behind a life-long eating disorder, which significantly derailed my physical and mental health as a young adult.

This will be my first gender-affirming procedure, one which I have known for years that I need to feel at home in my body. For a significant portion of that time, top surgery was completely out of reach. I was under-insured and under-employed due to being in treatment for an eating disorder and other mental health struggles. When I finally discharged from treatment and got a full-time job, I was very excited to have the financial stability and insurance coverage to get the healthcare I needed. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that my employer explicitly and intentionally excludes gender-affirming care for trans people from their insurance plans. Over the last year, I have spoken extensively with my insurance company and sought legal counsel, and sadly there is no way to get the surgery covered. This means that I will be responsible for the full financial burden of the surgery, as well as any resulting complications. While this financial commitment is daunting, I am also aware that the world is becoming less friendly towards trans people and less understanding of people who exist outside of the gender binary. This unfortunate reality is what pushed me to finally schedule top surgery for this summer, knowing that it will only become more difficult and dangerous to access gender-affirming care in a country that is trying to write trans people and other minorities out of existence.

Dr. Beverly Fischer will conduct my top surgery on June 25, 2025. Dr. Fischer specializes in gender-affirming surgeries and treatment for trans patients, including procedures for gender non-conforming patients. During the surgery, Dr. Fischer will remove my breast tissue, drastically reducing the size of my chest, and reposition my nipples to align with my new chest shape.

I am trying to contribute as much of my own funds to this surgery as possible; however, I cannot make this happen without the support of loved ones and the community. In addition to income I have saved and set aside over the last few months, I am going to raise money for this surgery via art commissions and social media content creation. If you are interested, please contact me! The proceeds from my "Protect Trans Futures" design on Redbubble and Etsy will also go towards my surgery. In addition to art sales, this GoFundMe fundraiser will help pay for the surgery (which includes the surgeon fees, anesthesia, facility fees, and some post-op care), as well as post-op medications and supplies that I will need in order to heal safely. Luckily, Dr. Fischer is local, so I will not have to incorporate the cost of lodging, etc., into the surgery costs. My job is an 11-month contract with one month off during the summer, so I will not have to worry about taking time off work for the surgery; however, I will not be getting paid during that time. Because I will be healing from surgery, I also will not be able to make up for that lost income with summer choreography gigs, which is what I typically do to help ends meet during my month off-contract.

My estimated total cost for my top surgery is $8,950. I have paid $950 of that cost – $100 for the surgery consultation and $850 for the deposit required to schedule the surgery. My goal of $8,000 dollars should cover the surgery and the medications and items I need to heal. Please see below for a detailed breakdown of those costs. I will need to pay the full cost of the surgery by the final week of May or enter into a payment plan with a third party called Care Credit. In the case that I am able to raise more money than I need for the surgery and any required post-op care, I will donate those funds to the Trans Lifeline to help provide much-needed support to transgender folks experiencing mental health crises.

Thank you so much for reading this. I deeply appreciate your attention, care, and support.

Love,

Sophia

This fundraiser will help pay for: