Gender Re-Affirming Surgery for Chauncey

I have been living with, or rather trying to manage gender dysphoria for my entire life. Since before kindergarten, knowing I was in the wrong body, trying to mask constant discomfort and anxiety; while fielding incessant ridicule and harassment became a full time job. The idea that a sense of wholeness between my mind, body and spirit was something I would never be allowed to experience preoccupied my mind and actions on a daily basis. While it only intensified as I grew older, I trained myself to go through life in a dissociative state, both as a form of protection and survival. The fantasy in my head of what life would be if I we’re experiencing it as the gender I truly was provided some semblance of comfort, but also further fueled my sense of isolation, depression and anxiety that had developed. Eventually it ended up interfering with all aspects of my everyday life- my attempts at college, jobs, personal relationships with friends and family and ultimately myself. It configured to this day. Combined with a series of sexual assaults I experience as a young adult, I developed a series of unhealthy coping mechanisms to try and numb myself. Two separate times I attempted to take my own life because I just couldn’t see the point being trapped in a life where I could never truly be myself, reach my full potential or feel whole in myself. After 32 years of exhaustion, frustration, and yearning, I reached a place where I was finally ready to give myself the chance to live authentically but also became discouraged and disillusioned when confronted with new roadblocks once again preventing that journey from coming to fruition. Although I had started hormone therapy, learning the costs and healing time (time off work) required for this complex surgeries presented a new set of obstacles. This go fund me is an attempt at funding the gender affirming surgeries needed to finally become whole and give myself a chance at finally and hopefully living a life I’ve always been denied. These surgeries are not for vanity but absolute necessity. They will give me the chance to free myself of constant misgendering, anxiety and depression. The chance to walk freely down the street comfortable in my skin and remove the walls that have blocked me in my entire life. The chance to live life as a proud, affirmed black trans woman. Everyone deserves love and freedom. This is my attempt at reclaiming mine.