I'm trying to live in spite of it all. Let's yeet the teats.

Hey there! My name is Cade, short for Cadence. I'm a 22 year old dude from the DMV. I like to collect obscure movies, music, and video games. I love comics. I've been reading Jack Kirby's original New Gods run lately. I'm a pet person. I have a little black cat named Marceline who I treat like my daughter. I also have an elderly bulldog named Buster, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. We're doing all that we can for him, we have him on medication and he's doing better these days. But emergencies like that have kept my family a bit tighter than usual. Despite this, I'd say that I'm lucky and loved and I'm happy to be where I am. But despite the support from all of my friends, family, and loved ones, I am absolutely terrified. That's because I'm a transgender person. If you're curious, I am a trans man, meaning I am transitioning from female to male and I use He/Him pronouns. And I'm sure that more than half of the people who saw this clicked away after they read that. In part I assume that's because our current president, as well as conservative talking points on a larger scale, have politicized my existence. It's gotten to the point where they're trying to ban trans people from federal restrooms , and restrict gender affirming care on a large scale for anyone under the age of 19. Not 18, 19. Barring legal adults from being able to do what they please with their own bodies. I don't work in the chambers of congress. I'm older than 19 years old. Neither of these pieces of legislation should effect me. But I'm not stupid. Neither am I willfully ignorant. I came out as trans when I was 16 years old. Due to how inaccessible gender affirming care was even prior to the current political climate, as well as the shutdowns that occurred during the pandemic, I was not able to receive hormone replacement therapy until I was 20 years old. I realized that if I wanted to live to my fullest potential, I need to act as swiftly as possible. Before I run out of time. My insurance will cover a majority of the costs to remove the breast tissue that's developed on my chest, but there's a small amount of that breast tissue under my arms. According to my surgeon, that underarm tissue is medically considered a different part of the body from my chest and the procedure to remove it cannot be covered by insurance. So I'm asking for just the $3,000 it would take to cover the out of pocket costs. Thank you all so much for hearing about me and my journey. If you can't donate, that's fine, in the very least, you can share the link to this page so as many people can see it as possible.