Phoebe's Trans Surgery Fund

Hey, My name is Phoebe Santalla, and I’m terrified. Wait... No, let me start over. My name is Phoebe, I'm a 32 year old transgender woman and my pronouns are she/her. Ugh, ok, here’s the deal. I’m a transgender woman looking for aide with funding my GAV (gender affirming vaginoplasty). Even with insurance it’s an astronomical expense. The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery estimates the surgical cost alone is about $25000 . Sure, some of the medical costs are going to get covered, but there’s a whole laundry list of things that require funds that insurance doesn’t cover. Things like: • Plane tickets to a consultation (In New York!) • Housing while traveling • Hair removal on surgery areas prior to surgery • Therapist consultations (that's right you need two separate ones!) to get letters for surgery approval • Doctor consultation to get a letter for surgery approval • Plane tickets to a surgery (In New York again!) • A longer hotel stay • Food & Supplies • Two months off of work with no pay (How will I pay for rent and groceries? It's an exciting mystery!) • Plane tickets to a potential follow up appointment • Another hotel stay The wild thing is that I’m sure I’ve missed things. It honestly feels impossible. But, I’m trying not to measure this process in financial woes and struggle. If I’m honest the driving force behind my transition and my pursuit of treatment is not because of self disdain or dysphoria. It’s the opposite. It's the intense pursuit of self love. I don’t feel like I was born in the ‘wrong’ body. I’m not trying to run away from my boyhood, and don’t have what I would call a “dead’ name. My journey is to pursue growing into the person I want to be, not about rejecting who I have been. Maybe that’s why this part of my transition has had me wrestling with the implications for three years. The social narrative that trans folx seem to be given is: “I knew since I was 3 that I was born the wrong gender, I can’t stand my body and need surgery to fix that.” But, I know what I want most in moments of euphoria, not dysphoria. In the moments where I’m smiling uncontrollably from really seeing myself or what I could become, and not from loathing what I am or have been. The fact is that currently I have to make some pretty hard cuts to my budget to try to save money, and part of that is keeping my fingers crossed that no emergencies pop up. So that's why I'm reaching out to y'all. I need help. Affirming medical care can be astronomical in cost, but I'm hoping community support can help it be less overwhelming.