Donation protected
Hello! I'm Natalie, and I have a date booked for vaginoplasty here in San Francisco in late October. I'm a 32 year-old trans woman now living in California, but hailing from Alabama. I'm doing alright for myself. I can pay my rent (shocker, right?), and I've got insurance through my full time job, but that doesn't change the fact that surgery is EXPENSIVE!
I've been out since I was 19 and this surgery has been a very long time coming, but I can't tell you how bizarrely wonderful even knowing I have a date is. For a long, long time I didn't think this would ever happen. When I came out, and for years after, surgery was viewed by insurance companies as an entirely cosmetic procedure that they didn't have to pay for at all. Luckily, we've made some progress on that front and this has gone from a pie-in-the-sky wish to something that can actually happen for me.
Before you ask, "Natalie. If you have such a great full time job, how come you can't just pay for this yourself?" understand my insurance is exactly as mediocre as you'd expect. Healthcare in America is a mess. I've a deductible I'll have to hit before they pay for anything and a lot of these funds will be going toward that. There's also a number of pre-surgical hair removal sessions that are required for a good outcome in addition to some therapists I need to see for some godforsaken reason. I'm pretty sure if I've been out for over a decade my mind is made up. To give you an idea, here's what I'm looking at: $1300/mo for rent, $3500 deductible, hair removal for which the consult was $350, plus a car payment, food, and basic bills. I will get some portion of my regular take home pay through FMLA, but what I'm asking for will help bridge things and make sure I come out the other side okay.
Finally, this is pretty major surgery and my job has me bending and lifting as well as just being on my feet a lot. In order to make sure I heal properly, I'm going to be off work for something like three months. I'm planning ahead, saving what I can, and will be working with my HR team to use any benefits that exist to make sure I can still eat and pay rent, but some of this money is padding for that too. Basically, I want to make sure I have enough between my savings, HSA account, and this GoFundMe to at least start to cover any unforeseen issues that come up.
Honestly, I've wanted this for a LONG time, and whatever you can give to help make it happen would mean more than I can possibly explain in an online post. It'd be inaccurate to suggest that what I have causes me excruciating psychological pain. I'm used to it. But I hate it. And in some weird ways, transition has made it worse. The kinds of issues it does cause seem so small comparatively. Right now, I pretty much always second guess going swimming. I'd love to try something on without primarily worrying about how my current setup fits in (or doesn't). And I'd love never to have to broach that particular subject with a potential partner again. Simple things cis women generally take for granted. Dealing with these issues and others become a stack of mental tasks to perform that, slowly but surely, sap my emotional energy and reach right to the heart of my anxiety. So it's accurate to say it would be a massive load off my mind and my soul, even if I don't have classic, crippling bottom dysphoria.
Know, if you don't, that I've been a part of whatever trans community exists where I live, small or large, for a long time and will continue to be after this is over. Any extra funds left over will get donated directly to other trans people in need, and that if you think the world we live in right now is too full of hatred, ego, greed, and avarice, that even a small donation will help do something material to fight that.
I've been out since I was 19 and this surgery has been a very long time coming, but I can't tell you how bizarrely wonderful even knowing I have a date is. For a long, long time I didn't think this would ever happen. When I came out, and for years after, surgery was viewed by insurance companies as an entirely cosmetic procedure that they didn't have to pay for at all. Luckily, we've made some progress on that front and this has gone from a pie-in-the-sky wish to something that can actually happen for me.
Before you ask, "Natalie. If you have such a great full time job, how come you can't just pay for this yourself?" understand my insurance is exactly as mediocre as you'd expect. Healthcare in America is a mess. I've a deductible I'll have to hit before they pay for anything and a lot of these funds will be going toward that. There's also a number of pre-surgical hair removal sessions that are required for a good outcome in addition to some therapists I need to see for some godforsaken reason. I'm pretty sure if I've been out for over a decade my mind is made up. To give you an idea, here's what I'm looking at: $1300/mo for rent, $3500 deductible, hair removal for which the consult was $350, plus a car payment, food, and basic bills. I will get some portion of my regular take home pay through FMLA, but what I'm asking for will help bridge things and make sure I come out the other side okay.
Finally, this is pretty major surgery and my job has me bending and lifting as well as just being on my feet a lot. In order to make sure I heal properly, I'm going to be off work for something like three months. I'm planning ahead, saving what I can, and will be working with my HR team to use any benefits that exist to make sure I can still eat and pay rent, but some of this money is padding for that too. Basically, I want to make sure I have enough between my savings, HSA account, and this GoFundMe to at least start to cover any unforeseen issues that come up.
Honestly, I've wanted this for a LONG time, and whatever you can give to help make it happen would mean more than I can possibly explain in an online post. It'd be inaccurate to suggest that what I have causes me excruciating psychological pain. I'm used to it. But I hate it. And in some weird ways, transition has made it worse. The kinds of issues it does cause seem so small comparatively. Right now, I pretty much always second guess going swimming. I'd love to try something on without primarily worrying about how my current setup fits in (or doesn't). And I'd love never to have to broach that particular subject with a potential partner again. Simple things cis women generally take for granted. Dealing with these issues and others become a stack of mental tasks to perform that, slowly but surely, sap my emotional energy and reach right to the heart of my anxiety. So it's accurate to say it would be a massive load off my mind and my soul, even if I don't have classic, crippling bottom dysphoria.
Know, if you don't, that I've been a part of whatever trans community exists where I live, small or large, for a long time and will continue to be after this is over. Any extra funds left over will get donated directly to other trans people in need, and that if you think the world we live in right now is too full of hatred, ego, greed, and avarice, that even a small donation will help do something material to fight that.
Organizer
Natalie Blackburn
Organizer
San Francisco, CA