Life Saving Surgery for Alcide
Donation protected
MY STORY
My name is Alcide, but some of you may know me as Em. I am a trans and disabled and artist and advocate from New Orleans. I have been living with endometriosis for 9 years that has dangerously progressed and now requires emergency surgery.
Endometriosis is a debilitating, full-body disease when tissue that is similar to what should only grow inside of the uterus grows in other parts of the body. This tissue sheds its lining and bleeds every month like a typical uterus, except the blood has nowhere to escape, causing excruciating pain and massive amounts of inflammation that results in scar tissue formation, leading to one’s organs becoming glued together with scar tissue adhesions. Endometriosis can be life threatening when it attacks the heart, lungs, and kidneys.
I recently learned I have the most advanced stage of endometriosis, accurately known as DIE, or deep infiltrating endometriosis, that is attacking multiple organ systems in my body. I have suspected endometrial growths on my diaphragm creeping dangerously close toward my lungs and all over my pelvis, and possible involvement of my liver and kidneys.
I currently spend about two weeks of every month bed bound in excruciating pain. Cumulatively, I have spent about 4.5 years of my life bed bound. Even if my endometriosis wasn’t now classified as an emergency case, this is no way to live. I have the chance to experience a quality of life I never have before, and I need your help getting there.
This disease has claimed seemingly everything good in my life. I have had so many opportunities taken from me due to endometriosis, and it has caused incredibly far-reaching disasters for me. The image of me above is from a week-long hospitalization in November of 2019 when a last-ditch “treatment” I was trying for endometriosis provoked a blood clot in my right leg, adding the stress and fear of future blood clots and an anticoagulation regimen to my already complex health picture.
It is also extremely difficult for me to live with this disease as a trans person, because of how dysphoric it is to experience a disease stigmatized and neglected as a “women’s health issue,” and I have experienced so much transphobic violence while attempting to seek care.
Because of the urgency of my case, my surgeon bumped me to the front of his waitlist and scheduled my surgery for two weeks from today. This is excellent news for me, but leaves little time to crowdfund for my enormous out of pocket cost.
Because of misogynistic health bias and a lack of education in the medical field, NO insurance company in the United States recognizes life-saving excision of endometrial tumors as medically necessary.
THE COSTS
My estimated out of pocket surgical cost is $21,000, not including the hospital costs of my overnight stay, anesthesia, room, etc.
The other $9,000 I am raising is to cover the cost of traveling to and from the surgeon who is providing me this life saving treatment, housing for my caregiver and I for two weeks while I heal until I am well enough to travel, food, rent for September and October while I will still be in recovery, and boarding my caregiver’s pet for two weeks and their lost wages so they may travel with me for surgery.
IT IS CRUCIAL 50% OF MY GOAL, $15K IS MET BY AUGUST 17TH, because I must pay for half of my surgical cost up front, and must cover travel and housing expenses before I arrive!
HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by donating to my GoFundMe, sharing my GoFundMe page with your friends and family on social media, and donating to my Venmo @alcidedugas and CashApp $alcidedugas directly.
Additionally, I recently received an incredible opportunity to attend my dream graduate program as a Master of ArtScience student at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, The Netherlands, along with a full scholarship covering my living expenses. This dream is only possible with this dramatic intervention in my health. If I defer for a year, my scholarship and place will not be held.
I am a trans and disabled artist and bioethicist with a disability justice-centered practice. I am creating legal precedent and health policies that protect sick people from biopharmaceutical and corporate exploitation. I want to continue advocating for trans disabled and chronically ill people, and can only do that with this surgery. This is an investment in saving my life, an investment in my future, and an investment in trans and disabled people everywhere who I hope to protect in the future.
Thank you so much for your support and belief that I deserve not only to live, but to thrive.
My name is Alcide, but some of you may know me as Em. I am a trans and disabled and artist and advocate from New Orleans. I have been living with endometriosis for 9 years that has dangerously progressed and now requires emergency surgery.
Endometriosis is a debilitating, full-body disease when tissue that is similar to what should only grow inside of the uterus grows in other parts of the body. This tissue sheds its lining and bleeds every month like a typical uterus, except the blood has nowhere to escape, causing excruciating pain and massive amounts of inflammation that results in scar tissue formation, leading to one’s organs becoming glued together with scar tissue adhesions. Endometriosis can be life threatening when it attacks the heart, lungs, and kidneys.
I recently learned I have the most advanced stage of endometriosis, accurately known as DIE, or deep infiltrating endometriosis, that is attacking multiple organ systems in my body. I have suspected endometrial growths on my diaphragm creeping dangerously close toward my lungs and all over my pelvis, and possible involvement of my liver and kidneys.
I currently spend about two weeks of every month bed bound in excruciating pain. Cumulatively, I have spent about 4.5 years of my life bed bound. Even if my endometriosis wasn’t now classified as an emergency case, this is no way to live. I have the chance to experience a quality of life I never have before, and I need your help getting there.
This disease has claimed seemingly everything good in my life. I have had so many opportunities taken from me due to endometriosis, and it has caused incredibly far-reaching disasters for me. The image of me above is from a week-long hospitalization in November of 2019 when a last-ditch “treatment” I was trying for endometriosis provoked a blood clot in my right leg, adding the stress and fear of future blood clots and an anticoagulation regimen to my already complex health picture.
It is also extremely difficult for me to live with this disease as a trans person, because of how dysphoric it is to experience a disease stigmatized and neglected as a “women’s health issue,” and I have experienced so much transphobic violence while attempting to seek care.
Because of the urgency of my case, my surgeon bumped me to the front of his waitlist and scheduled my surgery for two weeks from today. This is excellent news for me, but leaves little time to crowdfund for my enormous out of pocket cost.
Because of misogynistic health bias and a lack of education in the medical field, NO insurance company in the United States recognizes life-saving excision of endometrial tumors as medically necessary.
THE COSTS
My estimated out of pocket surgical cost is $21,000, not including the hospital costs of my overnight stay, anesthesia, room, etc.
The other $9,000 I am raising is to cover the cost of traveling to and from the surgeon who is providing me this life saving treatment, housing for my caregiver and I for two weeks while I heal until I am well enough to travel, food, rent for September and October while I will still be in recovery, and boarding my caregiver’s pet for two weeks and their lost wages so they may travel with me for surgery.
IT IS CRUCIAL 50% OF MY GOAL, $15K IS MET BY AUGUST 17TH, because I must pay for half of my surgical cost up front, and must cover travel and housing expenses before I arrive!
HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by donating to my GoFundMe, sharing my GoFundMe page with your friends and family on social media, and donating to my Venmo @alcidedugas and CashApp $alcidedugas directly.
Additionally, I recently received an incredible opportunity to attend my dream graduate program as a Master of ArtScience student at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, The Netherlands, along with a full scholarship covering my living expenses. This dream is only possible with this dramatic intervention in my health. If I defer for a year, my scholarship and place will not be held.
I am a trans and disabled artist and bioethicist with a disability justice-centered practice. I am creating legal precedent and health policies that protect sick people from biopharmaceutical and corporate exploitation. I want to continue advocating for trans disabled and chronically ill people, and can only do that with this surgery. This is an investment in saving my life, an investment in my future, and an investment in trans and disabled people everywhere who I hope to protect in the future.
Thank you so much for your support and belief that I deserve not only to live, but to thrive.
Organiser
Alcide Dugas
Organiser
Chicago, IL