Support Luka's Journey to Gender Affirmation

Hello! My name is Zoe, and I started this GoFundMe for my partner and best friend, Luka!

The Man

Luka is a transgender man, and experiences severe gender dysphoria due to having been born in a typically female body. As he works through his transition, a large (no pun intended) obstacle is that he has breasts that are difficult to hide and cause him significant emotional and physical distress. His goal is to have them removed, and reconstructive surgery performed to give him a more typically male chest, a process commonly known as top surgery.

I've had the joy of knowing Luka since a little before he came out as transgender. I met him in a really dark time in his life, and at the time I had just recently come out as trans myself; he supported and encouraged me during my transition and through that experience came to find the strength to come out as his true self. I've been there to see him overcome suicidal ideation and self harm, and make great strides in handling his depression and anxiety. A lot of these improvements stem from his transition; Being yourself makes it easier to love yourself.

I want to do everything I can to support his transition and help him continue on his journey of self-discovery and self-love, and this necessary gender-affirming surgery is a milestone he's been desperate to reach for years. He asked me to help him set up this GoFundMe to reach this goal, and I'm hopeful that I can help him realize this dream of his.

The Mission

We are reaching out for community support in making this goal a reality; Luka is disabled and unable to readily save the significant amount of money that top surgery costs, and even if he had employer-sponsored health insurance instead of state-sponsored Medicaid, this kind of procedure is difficult to have classified as something other than cosmetic in nature and thus isn't covered by insurance providers.

The goal we have set is an estimated amount meant to cover the cost of travel, treatment, and recovery from the procedure. Our plan is to travel to Bangkok, Thailand, to one of the internationally acclaimed cosmetic surgery hospitals there. After the surgery, we will spend approximately 1-2 weeks attending convalescent care and physical therapy sessions until Luka is fit to return home.

It may seem excessive to travel across the world from the US to another country for this procedure, but in truth it is both less expensive and more safe for Luka to do things this way; the $15000 goal we have set on this fundraiser would cover the entire trip, surgery and aftercare, as well as food and lodging for him and myself. Meanwhile, the average cost for top surgery here in the US would be that entire amount if not more, and wouldn't include any sort of recovery care after the procedure. As I told him when going over the details of everything with him, I would rather travel to the ends of the earth to get him the care he deserves, than risk his health and safety for the convenience of remaining stateside.

Help us out!

Your donation directly contributes to the realization of life-altering, critically important gender-affirming surgery for Luka. Not only will this procedure resolve a major source of dysphoria and mental distress for him, but it will also provide significant physical relief for his body which is affected by a connective tissue disorder. Please consider helping us get this weight off his chest!