Hello! My name is Casey. I am a Mexican-American trans nonbinary person who loves baking, bookstores, and nature documentaries, and I am making this post to ask for help making my dream of top surgery a reality.

When I first came out as trans, I never thought top surgery would be in reach; to protect myself from that, I refused to let myself consider what it would be like even in my wildest daydreams. But I’ve grown a lot since then- I went to school to be a medical assistant, spent a year being part of the Covid effort, and moved from California to Florida to begin building a life with my partner, Santiago. To everyone who has given me love and support during this time, I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks to the people in my life I’m a lot less scared to dream than I used to be.

These days top surgery feels less out of reach and more like a dream that could actually come true. When I started my new job in Florida I was thrilled to discover that my work insurance would help with the cost of top surgery, although with one rather large catch; very few top surgeons are in their network and none of them are in state, meaning a lot of the money saved in medical expenses instead now has to go towards paying for 9 nights of out of state travel to an area that actually has an in-network surgeon. I’ve been waiting for weeks but I finally received approval from insurance to schedule my surgery with the Gender Confirmation Center in San Francisco this fall, so it looks like I’m headed back to California for a little while!

At the end of the day, top surgery is incredibly expensive. Although I’m unbelievably lucky to have insurance to help with medical costs, I still need to pay for 9 nights of hotels and food in San Francisco, flights and lyfts for myself and my partner (who I’m very lucky to have acting as my post surgery caretaker), my portion of surgery fees, and sacrifice weeks of income. I know times are hard for everyone right now and I am grateful for any donations in order to make this a little more possible for me.

Love,

Casey ♥️