Help Tab Achieve Top Surgery

Hi, I'm Tab. If you know me through the audio drama community, you'll better know me by my username or through the amazing, talented people I work with on 400 Words a Horror. I need help pulling together the funds to finally get top surgery, and I can't keep letting it be pushed out for some time in the future. I am aiming to raise $2500, but any amount more will help reduce the medical debt I will be taking on.

Beyond the mental discomfort of dysphoria, I have chronic pain that is significantly worsened by having to bind for 10+ hours during work shifts. I also do not feel safe inhabiting this body. Interacting with the general public is anxiety inducing, and traveling out of my state is actually terrifying. I want to see my friends and family on the East coast; I want to go to my cousin's wedding. I don't want to be in pain any more.

This has been a long time coming. I first started this process in 2023, or 2017 if you go by the first letter I had gotten from a mental health provider (before I realized this process would also require pesky things like savings, PTO, and people to care for you over multiple weeks). May of 2023 is when I started working with UC Health, meeting with their nurse team and then consulting with a surgeon. My surgery was scheduled for June of 2024. That is, until my surgeon was suddenly unavailable and it was postponed until December 2024.

At that time it would have been completely covered by DenverHealth Medicaid.... except that they don't follow WPATH and also sent their denial the day before Thanksgiving, with the appeal window lapsing before the surgeon's office opened on Monday. Neither I nor their office were informed of the decision for another week. I tried to scramble through obtaining letters and submitting quick appeals, but ultimately my surgery was postponed again, this time until May 2025. And then most recently, I was notified that the surgeon was rescheduling once again, and I was pushed to November 2025.

With a mental health crisis weighing me down and a complete loss of trust in Denver’s UCHealth, I started looking for other options. After several more months of stress, I met with a surgeon at another UCHealth branch, who made me feel hopeful again. I was told to expect a date around the end of summer, I expected September from the communications with the scheduling staff.

Last week, I got better news than I could have hoped for. They gave me a surgery date in early July, just a little over a month from now. I am so relieved, but there is a final obstacle.

The total cost I am looking at is my insurance’s out of pocket maximum, which is $7,600. I have savings that will cover my rent while I am out of work and about a third of that cost. I am hoping to raise $2500, and pay the rest off over time with UCHealth’s payment plan option or credit.

This turnaround is pretty tight, and that’s scary. If by some miracle, this fundraiser exceeds the goal amount, it will go towards lowering the amount of debt I will be going into to finally make this happen.

I know money is tight for everyone. Any amount of help you can give me financially or by sharing this fundraiser will be immensely appreciated.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for supporting me, and thank you for all the ways you support trans people during this incredibly scary time to exist.