The Great British Balls-Off

Hi, my name is Peach and I'm fundraising for my partner May to access life-changing/saving gender affirmation surgery. Here are some words from her:

"tl;dr - I'm going to chop my balls off so that my mental and physical health isn't dependent on the whims of my local GP.

I find this cringe-inducingly embarrassing, but things have got to the stage where there aren’t any other options for me than to fundraise to access the treatment I need.

I’ve always felt different, I’ve always known I’m not a man. I didn’t know I had any other option than to pretend to be one until my life changed in 2020 and I came out first as nonbinary, then as a trans woman.

I was referred to the local Gender Identity Clinic and was told there was a minimum waiting time of five years. I’ve since learned from anecdotal experience that this is much more likely to be 8-10 years until a first appointment. A number of private clinics have capitalised on this and I chose to access diagnosis and hormonal treatment through GenderGP and a tenuous co-care agreement with my GP and pharmacist. The GenderGP subscription is a cost which I struggle to meet monthly from my Universal Credit because my mental and physical health makes me unable to work at present.

Since accessing hormones, my life has become unrecognisably different from the place I was in, which was a place of constant suicidal ideation. The difference is night and day. Allowing myself to take these steps has saved my life because I was at a point of no return. Under the current political climate and decimation of the NHS, I am at the whims of my local GP and pharmacist to access testosterone blockers regularly. I’ve recently gone through a period of unwanted hormonal changes due to temporarily losing access to them, which was extremely distressing for me and something I cannot face again. Unfortunately, while I am reliant on the NHS for treatment, there is the possibility of this happening every time I need a repeat prescription, which is currently every three months.

So that I can continue to live in a body that feels right, I need to take control of my own hormone levels. The easiest and most cost-effective way to achieve that is with an orchidectomy (removal of the testes). This way, I will not produce any testosterone aside from a negligible amount, and will hopefully no longer have the monthly cost of a GenderGP subscription to account for.

I’ve had a consultation and been approved for this procedure with Dr Christian Seipp, who is well-known for his work in gender-affirming care. I am fundraising to meet the costs of this procedure, which are detailed below.”

Consultation fee: £200

Hospital fee: £3,215

Consultant surgeon fee: £781

Consultant anaesthetist fee: £250

Travel cost (petrol): ∼£40

Overnight hotel cost for partner: ∼£100

GoFundMe fees: ∼£255

Total: £4,841

To help May achieve her goal, we will be running several fundraising events and applying for grants which will all be logged here. Any amount is helpful, thank you for taking the time to read about her story.