Heya, my names Maxine and I’m (finally) fundraising for gender affirming surgery.

I’ve been out for exactly 8 years (as I write this) and during that time I’ve been relentlessly working on growing into myself.

I dropped out of education due to extremely poor mental health prior to coming out and since returning have spent 6.5 years of my transition living on significantly below minimum wage so be able to afford private medical appointments and putting myself through university.

Unfortunately I’ve had significant employment troubles (unstable zero hour contracts, covid, and a business I was working for failing) and multiple mental breakdowns after a violent transphobic mob forced me and my partner to flee our house for our safety both of which put me in a really precarious financial position.

I haven’t had any savings for the past 3 years and all the money I would have been saving for surgery is currently going to paying off debt, making finance out of the question and pushing back my surgery timeline from 6 years after coming out to closer to 12 (or more.)

I’ve spent a lot of my transition in denial about wanting surgery because it felt completely out of reach but although it’s extremely painful to admit, I want it quite desperately, it would massively alleviate dysphoria and improve my quality of life.

The pressure to over-compensate at work, to make sure I’m perceived as a woman or risk being fired, coupled with the extreme difficulty I have finding clothes that work with my proportions, creates a pervasive undercurrent of anxiety that feels impossible to address.

Feminising Surgery to reverse some of the effects of male puberty would be a huge step to letting go of what feels like a lifetime living on edge.

Unfortunately the NHS doesn’t currently provide any of the Surgeries I’m hoping for and despite being lucky enough to receive treatment with them for a small amount of time I’ve since been discharged.

I’m still dedicated to self funding what I can and any money in excess of what’s needed will be passed forward to other surgery fundraisers, we’re all just doing our best and I wish it was easier.

None of my transition would have been possible this far without the support of all the truly amazing people in my life, thank you so much for everything, Maxine

[Surgery costs ballparks

FFS £3.5-4k

FFS Flights/accommodation k1-2k

Corrective Rib surgery 5k-15k

Recovery costs/rib flights 2k-3k