My name is Mason Steele and this, as the title suggests, is a fundraiser for a surgery that I've been waiting over 5 years for.  
Although this same story has been told many many times by many many people, I feel that reiterating it is necessary, considering. I discovered the term transgender in my early middle school years, and my life simultaneously clicked into place and fell apart at the same time. I was amazed to find out that what I had been feeling for so long wasn't just me going crazy but was something that could actually be fixed, it also led to the pain of trying to cope with it alone, as I was really young and really scared of friends and family not supporting me.  I did a lot of research on my own for quite a few years, deciding that transitioning was something that I needed.
I came out to my parents separately in my sophomore year of high school, and they were so much more supportive than I ever could have imagined. I began going to a gender therapist and determined that I could start taking hormones, which I have now been on for almost a year and a half. I got my name and gender officially changed, which was an extremely liberating accomplishment for me. I talked it over with my parents and my therapist, and I was able to make them understand that I was 100% ready for top surgery. The binder that I have to wear in order to feel comfortable in my own skin causes me a lot of pain and makes it really difficult for me to breathe and to live a healthy active life style that would include my passion for running and swimming. It took a while of hunting, but we found a really reputable surgeon in Marin County. Thankfully, I am lucky enough to have insurance that covers a large part of the surgery, however, it still leaves a large sum of money that we must come up with in order to move forward. 
I turn 18 on June 10th and by some miracle we, last minute, were able to get a surgery date for June 18th, which doesn't leave us all that much time to come up with the money that we need to cover it.
So how much exactly is this gonna cost? Our out of pocket cost for the surgery itself is approximately $3,500 and the travel/post recovery expenses are estimated to be $2,000, coming to the total of $5,500.
Although I've always had a difficult time asking for help, without your support this opportunity to begin the next chapter of my life in a body that enables me to be myself is not possible. I ask, not only on my behalf, but also for others out there in my situation that feel as if something like this is not possible. Will you please help me keep my June 18th surgery date by donating whatever you feel that you can? It would be so incredibly kind and generous of you to help donate so that I could get this surgery as soon as possible, because waiting any longer seems physically and emotionally impossible.