Help Steve Get Top Surgery (Weight Off His Chest)

Steven is one of my very best friends, and now he needs a little extra love and support.

Steven is a 29-year-old Trans man living in East Tennessee. His medical transition began on March 14th 2022 and has seriously saved his life. The mental weight that has been lifted off of him since beginning his transition has been immense, and now it’s time to lift a literal weight off his chest. He is living his best life, now let’s give him his best bod.

He is a ceramics artist by trade and a twitch streamer as well. His lovely twitch community has been an integral part to his life changing transition, reminding him daily how loved and supported he is, and keeping him going. They are a big reason why he had the courage to come out and live his most authentic life in the first place. They even helped pick his new name, Steven.

Currently, 2022 has been absolute crap for him, and financially has been very stressful. Currently he is unable to raise the last little bit of money he needs to cover his top surgery on January 9th 2023. He is hoping with his community’s help he can cover the gender affirming care he needs. Having this funded means he will be able to alleviate dysphoria, a huge amount of financial stress, and able to safely recover without incurring further debt.

What is top surgery, and why does Steve need it?

Top surgery for transgender men and nonbinary people is a procedure to remove breast or chest tissue (subcutaneous mastectomy). It's also called masculinizing chest surgery. It's a low-risk surgery with phenomenally high satisfaction rates.

Many trans masc people will bind or attempt to hide their chests to alleviate physical and social dysphoria, but Steven’s chest is unfortunately too large to bind for long lengths of time. Binding has caused him to have pain in his ribs and the physical and social discomfort at times leads him to not participate in certain athletic activities.

Having this surgery would allow him to feel more at home and comfortable in his own body.

What will the funds be used for?

The current estimated cost left over after insurance is $2800, this is subject to change depending on what may arise on surgery day. The rest will help cover travel costs to Nashville (currently a 4 hour drive) to Vanderbilt where the surgery and post-op visit will happen. He also needs it for room and board the night of surgery and to help cover post-surgery care in the form of meals, some bills, and other unforeseen circumstances that may arise because he will be doing little to no physical activity because to heal he will not be able to lift over 5 lbs. for the first few weeks or lift his arms over his head.

Why is Rachel running this GoFundMe?

Unfortunately, due to living in a small town of a red state, Steve has expressed a safety concern with trying to fund raise gender affirming care with his name, town, and state shown. I (Rachel) volunteered my name and location to help keep him safe and will make sure that he gets the funds. As a moderator of his twitch streams, I am both a trusted community member and in the past have helped raise some funds from the community to give Steve as birthday gifts, etc., so the funds will be delivered directly to him. Steve is fully aware of this fundraiser and has actually written most of this. I just wanted to be up front about why myself, and not him. As a Cis-woman I have no place speaking for Steve and his emotions and needs, but we are in constant contact over all of this. Nothing will be done without his explicit permission.

How to Help Steve

The best ways you can support him are:

Make a donation! Every little bit counts.

Share the link to this gofundme on social media, or privately with anyone you think might be able to help!

If you know Steve or enjoy his streams, sharing with a personal comment goes a long way.

From the bottom of Steve’s heart: thank you so much!