Help Miles Get Top Surgery

Hi, my name is Miles (or online as BlackSmoke1033) and I am a full time artist. You might know me, my art, my giant millipede, or my four gigantic chickens. Well I have two boobs I would like removing. The problem is this is probably going to be well over £10,000.

This is primarily a trans related surgery. Secondarily, it was also discovered that I have a number of cysts and scar tissue, one of which is causing pain and discomfort in my dominant as the placement is very close to the armpit and nerves/muscles in this area. So, I figure it’s time to kill two breasty birds with one stone. The NHS isn’t helping with this and the GPs at my surgery were also kinda dreadful but let’s not get off track – I’ve done a lot of research over the past couple of years and I’m finally ready to get on with it.

I have some personal savings to help fund this. I worked my ass off to the point I didn’t think my body could cope at the end of 2024 to do this. As a full time artist, my income relies on social media working well – which it isn’t, conventions (which are getting super competitive), and with this and rising production costs, my annual salary usually doesn't reach minimum wage in the UK – so you can imagine choking up 15 grand isn’t ideal.

Cost Breakdown is as follows:

Diagnosis + Surgery Referral: £850 – unfortunately despite everyone else who wants some cosmetic surgery just being able to go get it, because this is a *trans* surgery I need to get a diagnosis and pay an extra £250 for a letter.

Surgery Consultation (assuming only one is needed, sometimes it's two): £250

Actual Surgery – my quote ranges from 8.5-11,500. I am assuming somewhere in the middle at £10,000

Travel to and from London: this is £55 a time and will increase by a third for any appointments after August when my railcard runs out!

Other costs include:

Hotel fees – I will need drains removing around a week after surgery and may prefer to stay close to London in a hotel or with a friend. I would pay a friend for any care of me in this time.

Loss of Work – the recovery period is around 6 weeks, with at least 2 weeks being the most intense. I intend to close my Etsy shops during the first 2-3 weeks and possibly pause my Patreon for 1 month as well. I also will not consider any in person events for 8 weeks. I aim to schedule this during a ‘quiet time’. As a self employed person I don’t get sick leave, nor do I receive any government assistance. Any lost income is lost and I will need to use savings.

The GoFundMe is not for the full amount. I intend to bridge this gap with my own personal savings and via other methods listed below.

How Else To Help:

This GoFundMe requires you donate without expecting anything in return. I will not collect addresses from contributors, nor will I have the time or ability to do something like artwork as gifts above a certain threshold. Making a merch item as a gift for donating would cost hundreds of dollars which is counterproductive. Please make sure you are comfortable with this before proceeding. If you would like to help pay for this surgery AND get something in return, OR you want to do it without using GoFundMe as a platform, here are some other options:

Etsy Store: this is my primary source of income as is. Buying something supports me and you get a cool pin or shirt or something in return! There’s several codes and discounts above certain order thresholds as well. I will be running occasional 10% off sales throughout the year as well.

Ko-Fi – this is another tipping platform that pays directly via Stripe or PayPal. I sell original art there and intend to upload other one off or house clearance style items. If you WANT, you can buy items such as original art, for higher than the listed price as well.

Patreon – I have mail tiers on my Patreon, but also tiers from $1-5 that add very little to my workload. You get to see all my artwork early, WIPs I never put anywhere else, and also help me choose upcoming merch I make!

Vinted/eBay – I am uploading household items, clothes, old games, etc here, but this is currently unavailable – there’ll probably be a link in a future update once this is up and running

Private commissions – my availability for these is EXTREMELY low and I possibly only opening them to people I know very well or who had a previous commission from me. You can still ask.

Mail me cold hard cash – risky but very funny, even funnier if it’s in USD $1 bills

I’m not sure if GFM allows external links but my Carrd with all websites can be found here https://blacksmoke1033.carrd.co/

If you cannot afford to donate, or buy anything, then simply sharing this fundraiser or any of my other sales posts is a great help. Even just vocal support is helpful to me, I find it very difficult to ask for anything.

One more thing:

I ask that, in the interest of my own safety, you do not ask for the person I am using for my diagnosis / referral, or the name of my surgeon until the procedure has been carried out. I intend to write a thorough breakdown and any recommendations afterwards to benefit others intending to go through the same process, but will not do this beforehand.

I also ask that you PLEASE do not read the price breakdown and start suggesting other cheaper surgeons/doctors. I have DONE my research. I have no desire to travel abroad for intensive surgery to save money, use someone with a 2 year+ wait list to save £200, or use a person I deem to have poor results or a poor attitude, etc. I have to live with these results for the rest of my life.

Some details in this fundraiser are intentionally left thin due to family issues. Please respect that.

Thanks for reading and if you’d like to ask any questions feel free to do so!