Support Eli to access gender affirming surgery

HI, I'm Eli (they/them) and in March 2024 I am travelling from my home town of Perth (Boorloo), WA to Sydney (Gadigal), NSW for gender affirming surgery known as top surgery or double mastectomy. As a 30 year old non-binary person who discovered their identity a few years ago now, this surgery is absolutely life saving and will allow me to go beyond surviving and start thriving as my most authentic self. I have struggled with anxiety and depression most of my life, in addition to a recent autism diagnosis, which makes it challenging for me to be engaged in consistent employment and therefore adds an additional hurdle to affording this very necessary procedure. My current role is a physically demanding job which I will not be able to do for 6 months following surgery due to the requirements for healing, so I will need to find alternative employment.

Due to the considerable wait times for surgery in Perth (18+ month wait time for a consultation let alone surgery) and the lack of choice of surgeons, I am going to travel to Sydney for surgery with the highly experienced Dr Lisa Friederich. Due to this, I am seeking support to cover these extra associated costs including flights for myself and my partner as well as accommodation as I will need to stay for at least a week to recover and for follow-up appointments. This is on top of the already extremely costly procedure ($18k+ without private cover) as currently the Australian Government/Medicare provides minimal rebate for gender affirming surgeries.

Thank you in advance for your support.

LOVE,

ELI