Rowan's Top Surgery Fund
Donation protected
What is Top Surgery
Hello! My name is Rowan (he/him). I am a 19 year old transgender man who is a full time college student in my Sophomore year and I’m currently raising money to help pay for my top surgery.
While I’ve only been openly transgender for about 3 years, I have privately struggled with gender dysphoria all my life, specifically surrounding my chest. My dysphoria would be so bad that I would experience extreme bouts of nausea, alter my posture to hide my chest and even avoid physical contact with friends and family. It started to affect every single aspect of my life, so I started using a chest binder my junior year of high school. Since then, I have been using a binder every day for 8-12 hours. Recently because of this, I have begun to experience some pretty serious health problems. In November of this past year I wound up in the ER with chest pains and concerns that I had broken a rib. In December, I ended up getting COVID which coupled with binding every day has started to give me prolonged shortness of breath. Most recently I’ve had extreme back pain that has made it hard to live my day to day life comfortably. Despite all these health issues I still have not been able to stop binding due to my busy schedule, leaving me to choose between being comfortable enough to leave my house or my physical health. Using a chest binder for many consecutive years can affect one’s skin elasticity and cause a plethora of chronic health issues that can prevent you from being able to even have top surgery. Thus, binding is no longer a sustainable solution.
My current insurance does not fully cover top surgery and as a full time student funding the surgery myself is not possible. This is why I need your help.
Your donations will cover: consultation fees, surgery down payments, payment for the surgery itself, travel expenses, recovery costs, and other misc. fees as they come up. As of right now the number I am asking for is an estimate based on what my insurance will and will not cover. I will continue to update this page with a more specific cost breakdown as I receive it.
If money is left over after surgery I fully intend on donating it to others who are looking for gender affirming procedures.
Thank you for your support. Every donation counts!
Hello! My name is Rowan (he/him). I am a 19 year old transgender man who is a full time college student in my Sophomore year and I’m currently raising money to help pay for my top surgery.
While I’ve only been openly transgender for about 3 years, I have privately struggled with gender dysphoria all my life, specifically surrounding my chest. My dysphoria would be so bad that I would experience extreme bouts of nausea, alter my posture to hide my chest and even avoid physical contact with friends and family. It started to affect every single aspect of my life, so I started using a chest binder my junior year of high school. Since then, I have been using a binder every day for 8-12 hours. Recently because of this, I have begun to experience some pretty serious health problems. In November of this past year I wound up in the ER with chest pains and concerns that I had broken a rib. In December, I ended up getting COVID which coupled with binding every day has started to give me prolonged shortness of breath. Most recently I’ve had extreme back pain that has made it hard to live my day to day life comfortably. Despite all these health issues I still have not been able to stop binding due to my busy schedule, leaving me to choose between being comfortable enough to leave my house or my physical health. Using a chest binder for many consecutive years can affect one’s skin elasticity and cause a plethora of chronic health issues that can prevent you from being able to even have top surgery. Thus, binding is no longer a sustainable solution.
My current insurance does not fully cover top surgery and as a full time student funding the surgery myself is not possible. This is why I need your help.
Your donations will cover: consultation fees, surgery down payments, payment for the surgery itself, travel expenses, recovery costs, and other misc. fees as they come up. As of right now the number I am asking for is an estimate based on what my insurance will and will not cover. I will continue to update this page with a more specific cost breakdown as I receive it.
If money is left over after surgery I fully intend on donating it to others who are looking for gender affirming procedures.
Thank you for your support. Every donation counts!
Organizer
Rowan Salhi
Organizer
Weston, CT