As a thank you for donating, please pick a treat from the following list, message me with it, and I will arrange to get it to you. I will also consider other wild ideas, within reason. There is no price cap, everyone's means are different and I appreciate everyone.

A conversation with some friends, earlier this year:

Friend, who is not transgender: "How did you realise you were transgender Sol?"

Me: "Well, I guess... The idea of being a woman isn't exactly the worst thing ever, it's just - grey. Boring. Unappealing. I can't imagine why anyone would choose that."

Other, non-binary, friend: "Oh. I thought that's just what the idea of being a man felt like."

Friend: "Well, I can only speak for myself, but I don't think cisgender people feel like that."

Shortly after I got dressed up in male drag and we went out. But the whole thing has stayed with me, and it wasn't long before I made the decision to live full time as a man.

It's no secret that accessing transgender healthcare in the UK is incredibly difficult, although I think many people outside the LGBTQIA community don't realise how difficult.

I was referred to the gender identity clinic nearly three years ago, and I would likely need to wait another 3 at least before being offered a first appointment. From there, it would be several more years before I would be offered hormones, and then surgery. This isn't just down to understaffing and underfunding - there are countless official and unofficial institutional hurdles to the process.

My gender has always been incredibly confusing to me. For the longest time, I knew that I desperately wanted to be a man, but it was a long time before I learned that that was a good enough reason to be allowed to be one. I didn't have the stories some other people have - of loving trucks instead of barbies, of desperately trying to cover up my body and hide the things that identified me as female. I liked girly things - I just wanted to like them as a man. I thought it meant transitioning wasn't right for me, or that I didn't deserve it.

But now that I am living as a man, I've no longer been able to hide my own longing from myself. I can tell how right it feels. If I wait for the NHS to allow me to transition, I will be in my forties before I am able to feel myself. I hope that by working hard, saving, and with a little help from you, I won't have to wait that long.

Reaching my goal of £5,000 will allow me to go abroad for private surgery for almost half the cost of private surgery in the UK. Surpassing the goal will help me cover things like transport and accommodation, as well as being able to take a friend with me for support while I recover.

Love and joy to everyone.

And thank you xx