Blake's gender affirming surgery fundraiser

We are raising money for Blake’s gender affirming facial feminisation surgery (FFS). Blake is a well-known community member who founded T-Climbing, a trans-centred climbing group in London. She is a brilliant writer and academic, and also a staple of the techno scene. She gives an extraordinary amount of love and care to her community, and is now turning to them for much-needed support.

FFS is a procedure that changes features on your face to look more feminine. Blake’s gender dysphoria is mostly centred around her facial structure, and thus this surgery will not only alleviate her dysphoria significantly, but it will also give her much-needed courage and strengthened sense of self. Blake has been on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for over a year which has subtly changed her facial appearance due to redistribution of fat, but her underlying bone structure cannot be changed by HRT. Therefore, FFS is necessary to help feminise her face further. FFS for trans people in the UK is unavailable on the NHS. Consequently, it is necessary for Blake's FFS to be funded privately, and after extensive research we have decided to go with the wonderful, experienced surgeons at FacialTeam. We have detailed below the quote we have been given from them, alongside the procedures she has been recommended. Overall, this gives us a fundraising goal of £19.5K. Every donation is important, even if you're only able to donate a small amount! There are many other ways you can contribute aside from a donation, so please be in touch if you'd like to help in any other way (perhaps with fundraiser ideas and suggestions etc.).

Blake is incredibly keen to have this surgery as soon as possible, and we are hoping to fundraise enough to have the surgery booked in for next year. We will update regularly on how our fundraising is going over time. We will be throwing a rave later this year to raise money, so keep an eye out for updates on that too. We'll also be selling t-shirts and generally doing everything we can to get her over the finish line! If you donate, please mention a way that Blake has affected you in the comment—we know that would mean a lot to her!

Quote & recommendations:

Forehead £9,265.00

Chinplasty £8,075.00

Trachea shave £3,655.00

Rhinoplasty £7,182.50

Hospital fees £3,230.00

General Anaesthesia £1,955.00

Material Costs + CT Scan £1,402.50

Total = £34,765.00

- (personal savings £10,000 & other fundraising £5,000) = £19,500

Testimonials from Blake's partners, Em and Maddie:

Blake and I have been together for over ten years, and I've seen her grow from my childhood sweetheart to the stunning woman I love so much today. As many of you will already know, her life is lived in service of helping her friends and community, building spaces for us to safely live, work and play in. In the decade I've known and loved this woman, I've seen her bring people together, stronger, over and over again. Wherever she goes, she gives her free time and energy to those around her, helping us to live more connected and supported lives. She wears this incredible character very lightly. Modest to the last, she always looks to others before helping herself. Here though, we must turn to you all—the time has come when she desperately needs our help.

It's been nothing short of a privilege to have been with her through the beauty of her transition, but I've also seen firsthand how hard it is for her to manage the distress and pain of her dysphoria. More than anything, I'd love for her to finally feel fully herself when she looks in the mirror, and to go about her day with less fear of harassment when out and about. After a traumatic experience recently where she was assaulted in the street in a transphobic attack, this has felt even more vital. I know how much this surgery will benefit her mental health and physical safety, and it's exciting to see her face glow and shoulders lighten when she talk about what this will mean for her. I know myself the joy of gender-affirming surgery, and I hope we can all pull together to raise this fund for our amazing Blake so she can feel it too.

With all my love,

Em

~

Blake has been in my life for three years and every day I fall more deeply in love with her. I knew her just before she came out and since then I’ve seen her world expand and beautify as she’s grown into her position in our community. Her drive to transition has informed and strengthened my own sense of self, as I know it has countless queer people around us, and throughout that unfolding she has become increasingly her (which is to say kinder and sexier and more caring and more honest with herself).

She has this unassailable drive to connect the people around her with one another and to expand her world, bringing everyone along with her. As someone who has often avoided and retreated she has taught me, a trans woman with 7 years longer out, more than I can say about what it means to live a good trans woman’s life. I am so proud of everything she has achieved and I’m so grateful that I get to be next to her every day. I know that, unlike most of my adulthood, my life feels liveable today in part because of the world that we’ve built and I can only imagine how many people could say the same through being who she is. I have this image of her dancing next to me, shaking her long curly hair from side to side, owning every inch of her self and her space, and I compare that to the quiet and smaller woman I first met and I just never want that to stop.

Blake has also had a hard transition. On top of what we’re all going through politically, medically, socially, she has faced individual rejection from people close to her and has lived at the sharp edge of transmisogyny, and none of this is made easier by either of our dysphoria, which feels mountainous at times. She always has and always will be perfect, but I desperately wish she could live without the lingering sense of disconnection and self-doubt that comes from knowing what transition could look like but not having it.

When we sat in the room at FacialTeam and saw the ways her face will change all three of us cried, not only because Blake continues to be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, not only because it would mean that the world would be a little safer for her when it feels so scary right now, but also because the image on the screen looked exactly like how I imagined it would, exactly like the image of the woman she is transitioning towards.

I can testify that this surgery will be lifesaving for her, and it makes me incensed that we have to raise this much money from the people that love her rather than through the NHS. I know this surgery will save the life of the love of my life, so please give generously. All we have is each other.

Maddie x