Isabella's TG Medical Expenses

Hello! My name is Isabella Bunny Bennett, and some of you may know me from the performance group, Steam Powered Giraffe where I play Rabbit the Robot.

Recently my character and myself went through a dramatic change- we both began transitioning into women.

Overall, this isn't something I can choose to put off any longer. I will and have due to the expenses involved, but now that the train is in motion, I can't get off. I have medical bills related to taking hormones, therapy sessions, and more to continue to fund for my own physical and mental health.

This has been a difficult road so far, but the support I've receieved from our fans and friends has been wonderful.  Why I'm here today is to try and take the pressure off of my wallet for the various medical expenses that come with hormone replacement therapy and continued gender transitioning.

I don't need to explain how our band doesn't make nearly enough money for what we do- or how sporadic paychecks can feel. I'm lucky enough to be doing what I love and making a living off of it. However, I've never had to factor in medial expenses until now. I've been traditionally healthy for most of my life...but changing your gender is quite an expensive process.

A name and gender change alone is about $500. The blood work I just got today is $444. These sort of expenses are popping up everywhere for me and while putting off things like a name change is wise and certainly helps, there are other expenses that will drain my account regardless if I have the money or not.

My insurance has a very high deductible because I can't afford to pay more than two-hundred or so dollars a month. So it barely covers anything.

And I'm not even talking about SRS at this stage. I can't imagine ever being able to afford that, and I'm undecided if I will go down that road yet. All I'm looking for is to cover some of my blood work, endocrinologist vists, general healthcare visits, hormones, therapy, dental, court expenses for the name change, and if I can raise enough...get some laser hair removal on my upper lip. :) All of that comes out of my own pocket.

It adds up to mucho dollar signs and is generally a huge stress for me. Remember, I run a business with my twin brother- and up until July we've ran it from a dinky apartment and sarcrificed a lot of luxuries...like cars and medical insurance...to make our self-employment work.

Just like in the past, I've had to take to offering commissions again to get by, and those pieces of work take me away from our company and prevent me from working on our projects. Of course the company would pay me for my time, but the company doesn't always have the money to pay me. And that's just the reality of running your own business.

Unfortunately there are tons more expenses for me in the future. My dentistry, for example...is so extensively complicated that I simply cannot afford to correct the problems I have.

Anyone who takes a closer look at my videos can see I've got some pretty messed up teeth that will require thousands of dollars per tooth if not more. It's amazing I feel no pain. e_e I just have to wait and hope I'm not put out of a show if the pain hits before I can do something about it.

I want to end this with expressing my gratitude for everything I do currently have, and to express my understanding I still have it better than most. So thank you for indulging in my selfish request.

Many folks ask me what they can do to help support the band and its members, and while I always encourage them to buy the music, attend the shows, and get our merchandise...we're not living in a society that generally values its artists. The money doesn't stretch that far, and yes...we're all hoping for a good Christmas this year in the seasonal sporadicness of company sales.

If you cannot donate a little towards me, I would recommend supporting your local talents, crafters, and small businesses as cliche as that sounds. And I would of course be thrilled if you could just find it in your heart to purchase one of our CDs.

Thank-you all for your love and your inspiration. I am certainly blessed to entertain such wonderful people. :)