<div>I am raising money for gender affirming medical care. At a time where we are facing setbacks on every level, there is a sense of urgency to say the least. In a lot of ways, this feels like the last opportunity I will have to access this care any time soon.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I am happy and relieved to have found a surgeon with a great reputation to work with here in Chicago. I feel that I am in good hands with her team, and am ready to move forward.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>The first hurdle is hair removal. </strong>
</div>
<div>I will officially get a surgery date when my donor site is 80% cleared of hair. While there is a chance that I can get these services covered by insurance, that often looks more like a battle for reimbursement. Given the fact that I <strong><em>need</em></strong> to start now, I am asking for the funds ahead of time. Any reimbursements will be rolled back towards the cost of care.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Electrolysis can cost anywhere up to $200/hr, and some patients require up to/more than 30 hours. While I feel confident that I can find a better price, I am inclined to prepare myself for the worst possible scenario. There is earnestly no way I could possibly cover that cost out of pocket. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>What comes next?</strong>
</div>
<div>There are plenty of other costs to raise funds for. Below are some of the things I have on my radar at some point.
</div>
<ul>
<li>temporary housing immediately after surgery
</li>
<li>medical supplies
</li>
<li>transportation to and from post-op check in appointments
</li>
<li>three months off of work for recovery 
</li>
<li>compensation for caregivers that are taking time off of work to care for me post-op
</li>
<li>acupuncture for surgery prep and recovery (e-stim for nerve regeneration and scar tissue support)
</li>
<li>supplements that aid recovery
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>As the process moves forward, the goalpost will likely move. I will do my best to be transparent about my needs as they change. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I am not only preparing for surgery, I am also diving deep into new fairly intense and demanding care for my mental health. I am hopeful that being diagnosed with OCD this year and working with my new therapists will help me prepare for this process in ways I couldn't have previously imagined. Because of this, working harder to stash cash away for this is honestly not something I can do. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I feel optimistic about this opportunity, even while it feels that so many would be happy to see us fail. I have spent 6 years imagining who I might be when this last missing piece comes home. As a spiritualist on the spiral path, it is an inconvenient truth to realize that I won't be the person I am meant to be until this happens. My spiritual growth <em>demands</em> physical transformation. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Thank you for reading, and thank you for your support. 
</div>

Maddy Shilts

Anonymous

Julia Nelson

Rader Travis

Damien James

Allison Paisley

Ellen Nathanson

Erin Delaney

Phoebe Rusch

Quinn Hunt

Alex Springer

Kristen Wening

Stephanie Green

Nyameche Quansah

Sarah Madera Llanes

Andrew Ford

Sarah Madera

homecoming: urgent support for gender affirming care needed

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

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user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

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countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

Support Comments Allowlist

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

checkout headers audience

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

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npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

homecoming: urgent support for gender affirming care needed

Still $7,552 to go. Help us build momentum.