Update! 11/26/2025:

Hi everyone, I finally got an official date for the first part of my surgery in early January! I want to thank everyone who has donated so far to the fund, it has been so affirming and humbling to have community support right now. However, this now means the next two months are crunch time to raise the rest of the money, so that I can actually go through with it!

I can’t stress how urgent and life saving being able to have this surgery is, especially right now. Every step I have taken to feel and be more embodied in this world feels like constantly recommitting to the belief in myself I first needed 7 years ago and the absolute radiance of transsexuals during a time of increasing structural erasure, neglect, and outright violence. Due to mounting political pressure and rising f@scism, I’ve already experienced top doctors and clinics that are no longer performing surgeries considered “gender affirming” for trans patients while still performing them for cis patients. These are not “protect the dolls” hypotheticals and is a reality most of us have already been struggling through for years. I can’t stress the urgency in community showing up fully for trans women so they can safely get the healthcare they need now!

If you have already donated or donate to the fund now, please dm me or email ([email redacted]) (remove the spaces :) a mailing address so I can send you a hand silkscreened thank you card! I have been so moved by the generosity and love everyone has shown me.

For transparency, I have updated the goal to reflect the cash and venmo donations. Thank you!

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Hello, my name is Radia, and you may have known me by other names in the past. Over the past few years I’ve been an artist, tattooer, welder, and community arts organizer in New York City. I am also a trans woman, and I am starting this fundraiser to ask my community to help me actualize the surgery I’ve worked towards the past six years.

This surgery is a symbolic marker and a closing of a chapter of struggle in my life. It marks a turn away from existing in survival mode towards a life where I can measure my contributions beyond myself. Facial feminization surgery (FFS) will allow me to show up in the world in the way I imagine being able to. I’m excited to feel more comfortable in myself, my body, and an increased excitement towards the world.

At this moment I face an impasse between myself and the world, between an internalized sense of marginalization and assimilation. Surgery is a way out–it moves me beyond the confines of myself and back into the world–and it is an affirmation of all the ways I’ve struggled to make a life worth living.

I’ve lived through the experiences of housing and labor insecurity, underground economies, and shifting support networks that structure the precarity and marginalization of trans women in New York City. In my attempt to live a life that feels honest, dignified, and true to who I am as a person, I have struggled and continuously asserted myself in spaces that have historically excluded and erased trans women.

Despite the work I’ve done to make a life for myself in the city, I haven’t been able to achieve the material support necessary to pursue Facial Feminization Surgery on my own. While I now have a surgery date set for FFS in November, I’m still far from the amount of money that would make the surgery, and the rest and care necessary for recovery possible. During my consultation with the surgeon, I learned my specific case would require two separate procedures with additional recovery time between and after, extending my surgery/recovery period to around 5 months. I also learned that some parts of the surgery weren’t fully covered by my insurance.

I’m asking for $16,000 to help cover the parts of the surgery that insurance won’t cover, as well as rent, food, transportation, medication, recovery equipment, unexpected costs such as complications or revisions, and lost wages as I won’t be able to work for 5 months. If you aren’t able to financially support, sharing this post often to keep it circulating would help me greatly as well. Another way of financially supporting this endeavor is booking a tattoo with me the next few months before my surgery (@threewaterlines)(I will make you look sexy:).

Thank you for reading this far, I love you all!

Some of my beloved friends wanted to speak to my needs and character; they are included below!

“Radia is a boundless, devotional playmate in this slippery world-game. Fearless in her engagement, generous in her presence. She’s someone we all love deeply, someone who has held us, inspired us, and reminded us what it really takes to feel alive.

She has endured elaborative struggle that has postponed her life and this surgery in immeasurable ways. This is our moment to show up for her, the baddie who has shown up for all of us with vision, heart, and fierce and undeniable love..” - Tears

“I have know Radia for a very long time, and ever since I met her my life has been sweeter. She brightens every place and every person she encounters without even trying. She has a rare gift for uplifting and helping people around her, and she always shows up for her friends- especially when they need it most. I have seen her be a faithful, true, and steady rock of a friend for so many people, despite so many cumbersome hurdles thrown her way.

Radia has been one of the most grounding, kind, sweet-spirited friends that I’ve ever had. She deserves to feel just as grounded in herself as she makes others around her feel. I love you Radia!!!” - Billy