Josie's Top Surgery
Donation protected
Hi, Hello and welcome to my super awesome gofundme page!!
For those of you who don't know me or may not know any personal details about me; my name is Josie, I'm 25 years old, and I identify under the trans* umbrella, trans masculine if we're going into specifics.
If you aren't familiar with the gender spectrum, being trans masculine means that I do not feel connected with the sex of my body, and do not identify as a female. I feel the label Trans Masculine best describes me, as I present as a very masculine person, but am not quite sure if I identify as a transgender male. As of right now, I feel comfortable with any pronouns, but primarily use she/her/hers, since that is what I've used my entire life.
To sound cliche- ever since I was young, I never felt right in the body I was born in. I grew up wearing t-shirts and cargo pants, I hated dresses, and always wanted to have short hair. I wished I looked how all of the boys I knew looked, and I was given the label "tomboy". As I got older, I started to see stories about transgender people going through their transitions, starting testosterone, getting top surgery, etc. It inspired me and enlightened me to see people going through changes and becoming more comfortable in their bodies.
To me, I always thought top surgery- which is a short/slang term for double mastectomy- was out of reach for me. I wasn't a transgender man, so that wasn't something I needed. I never felt connected to my chest, and always wished I was flat, with no breasts. I hated the way shirts fit me as I hit puberty, and I constantly wore oversized t-shirts to hide what I felt were 'useless lumps' that continued to grow.
After I graduated high school and started to become more comfortable with accepting my gender identity, I realized that I didn't need to identify as anything specific to be able to look how I want. Top surgery isn't just for transgender men, and I've always wanted a masculine chest. The more I started thinking about it, the more I realized how much my large chest has affected my day to day life. My chest is size 34 G. It makes it difficult for me to wear a binder, because I never appear to have a flat chest. It hurts my entire upper body after a few hours of binding due to how heavy my chest is, even if I do so safely with a properly sized binder. It changes how I shower, how I dress, how I think about myself. I find myself frequently in tears because clothes don't sit on my body the way I imagine that they will. I don't look past my shoulders when I look in the mirror, clothed or not, because seeing a part of my body that I feel like doesn't belong and doesn't feel right is extremely upsetting and is something I spend most days just trying to ignore.
Within the last 2 years, it's become very clear to me that top surgery is something that would make my day to day life SO. MUCH. BETTER. Since I've come to this realization, it's something I can't stop thinking about- a huge portion of my day is spent thinking about how great it would be to have clothes fit me the way I feel like they should. Thinking about how great it would be to jog without having to clutch my chest and be in pain. Thinking about how it would feel to go to the beach and not cover up in 3 layers because I'm so petrified of someone staring at me in a weird way.
The last few years have been extremely hard, as my wife, Amelia, and I recently moved from Canada to Arkansas to start a business, are paying for my immigration funds, a business loan, a wedding, and multiple other difficult expenses that have popped up (being an adult is hard, as you all know!). Amelia and I have been trying to prioritize putting a small amount of money away for this surgery, but the expenses are high, and at this rate, it will take 4-5 years if not longer before we might be able to have enough saved up.
The expenses, based on the current prices as of today, are as follows:
Double Mastectomy (Top Surgery), done by Dr Kenneth Wolf in Michigan (No Nipple Grafts): $5,400
Two Round Trip Flights to Michigan for my wife and I: $800
Air BNB or Hotel for a week: $1000
Car Rental or Uber trips: $500 for a week
Food Cost for a week in Michigan: $200
Medicine Prescriptions: $50
Extra costs, accounting for extra medicines or specifics I may need for post-surgery: $50
Total: $8,000.00 USD
Due to my current living situation, I am unable to apply for insurance to cover the surgery costs. Since I am living in America as a Canadian citizen, and am going through an immigration process, I cannot apply for any American insurance. In Canada, there is a 3-4 year waitlist for a surgery date, and I would need to be referred by a therapist and present in the country for appointments. This is not feasible for me since I am living in Arkansas helping my wife run her business.
It means a lot that anyone even takes the time to read this novel, and I hope everything made sense! If anyone feels like donating a small amount, or just sharing this to a friend or two, it would be massively appreciated. Even your support and kind words mean a ton to me and to ALL trans* people, so thank you for being supportive and taking the time to read this! Your help would make a massive contribution to my personal well-being and happiness, and I cannot thank everyone enough for even just reading this. The support in my life has been overwhelming and I cannot thank you all enough.
Please message me if you have any questions at all, I'd be more than happy to fill people in with more details or information!
For those of you who don't know me or may not know any personal details about me; my name is Josie, I'm 25 years old, and I identify under the trans* umbrella, trans masculine if we're going into specifics.
If you aren't familiar with the gender spectrum, being trans masculine means that I do not feel connected with the sex of my body, and do not identify as a female. I feel the label Trans Masculine best describes me, as I present as a very masculine person, but am not quite sure if I identify as a transgender male. As of right now, I feel comfortable with any pronouns, but primarily use she/her/hers, since that is what I've used my entire life.
To sound cliche- ever since I was young, I never felt right in the body I was born in. I grew up wearing t-shirts and cargo pants, I hated dresses, and always wanted to have short hair. I wished I looked how all of the boys I knew looked, and I was given the label "tomboy". As I got older, I started to see stories about transgender people going through their transitions, starting testosterone, getting top surgery, etc. It inspired me and enlightened me to see people going through changes and becoming more comfortable in their bodies.
To me, I always thought top surgery- which is a short/slang term for double mastectomy- was out of reach for me. I wasn't a transgender man, so that wasn't something I needed. I never felt connected to my chest, and always wished I was flat, with no breasts. I hated the way shirts fit me as I hit puberty, and I constantly wore oversized t-shirts to hide what I felt were 'useless lumps' that continued to grow.
After I graduated high school and started to become more comfortable with accepting my gender identity, I realized that I didn't need to identify as anything specific to be able to look how I want. Top surgery isn't just for transgender men, and I've always wanted a masculine chest. The more I started thinking about it, the more I realized how much my large chest has affected my day to day life. My chest is size 34 G. It makes it difficult for me to wear a binder, because I never appear to have a flat chest. It hurts my entire upper body after a few hours of binding due to how heavy my chest is, even if I do so safely with a properly sized binder. It changes how I shower, how I dress, how I think about myself. I find myself frequently in tears because clothes don't sit on my body the way I imagine that they will. I don't look past my shoulders when I look in the mirror, clothed or not, because seeing a part of my body that I feel like doesn't belong and doesn't feel right is extremely upsetting and is something I spend most days just trying to ignore.
Within the last 2 years, it's become very clear to me that top surgery is something that would make my day to day life SO. MUCH. BETTER. Since I've come to this realization, it's something I can't stop thinking about- a huge portion of my day is spent thinking about how great it would be to have clothes fit me the way I feel like they should. Thinking about how great it would be to jog without having to clutch my chest and be in pain. Thinking about how it would feel to go to the beach and not cover up in 3 layers because I'm so petrified of someone staring at me in a weird way.
The last few years have been extremely hard, as my wife, Amelia, and I recently moved from Canada to Arkansas to start a business, are paying for my immigration funds, a business loan, a wedding, and multiple other difficult expenses that have popped up (being an adult is hard, as you all know!). Amelia and I have been trying to prioritize putting a small amount of money away for this surgery, but the expenses are high, and at this rate, it will take 4-5 years if not longer before we might be able to have enough saved up.
The expenses, based on the current prices as of today, are as follows:
Double Mastectomy (Top Surgery), done by Dr Kenneth Wolf in Michigan (No Nipple Grafts): $5,400
Two Round Trip Flights to Michigan for my wife and I: $800
Air BNB or Hotel for a week: $1000
Car Rental or Uber trips: $500 for a week
Food Cost for a week in Michigan: $200
Medicine Prescriptions: $50
Extra costs, accounting for extra medicines or specifics I may need for post-surgery: $50
Total: $8,000.00 USD
Due to my current living situation, I am unable to apply for insurance to cover the surgery costs. Since I am living in America as a Canadian citizen, and am going through an immigration process, I cannot apply for any American insurance. In Canada, there is a 3-4 year waitlist for a surgery date, and I would need to be referred by a therapist and present in the country for appointments. This is not feasible for me since I am living in Arkansas helping my wife run her business.
It means a lot that anyone even takes the time to read this novel, and I hope everything made sense! If anyone feels like donating a small amount, or just sharing this to a friend or two, it would be massively appreciated. Even your support and kind words mean a ton to me and to ALL trans* people, so thank you for being supportive and taking the time to read this! Your help would make a massive contribution to my personal well-being and happiness, and I cannot thank everyone enough for even just reading this. The support in my life has been overwhelming and I cannot thank you all enough.
Please message me if you have any questions at all, I'd be more than happy to fill people in with more details or information!
Organizer and beneficiary
Josie Braun
Organizer
Searcy, AR
Amelia Brackett
Beneficiary