Clay's top surgery support fund

Hi, my name is Clay (they/them). I am a graduate student in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and a grief worker. I am raising funds to cover the out of pocket and recovery time costs for gender-affirming FTM top surgery.

My coming out journey began with processing a lot of religious trauma and at first accepting that I was lesbian. Not so long after coming out I began to realize that there was more to my identity, something else I had felt since childhood but had never been able to voice. I am transmasculine and I'm ready to live in the body I was born to be in. Completing this surgery is a major step for me towards embodiment on a long journey of discovering, understanding, and claiming my identity.

My surgery was able to be scheduled much sooner than I had anticipated, which is incredible, but also makes the initial out of pocket costs and costs for time spent recovering a barrier. I am lucky to have health insurance that will cover a large portion of the surgery, but will still need to pay around $6,000 out of pocket. I am hoping to raise enough money to fully cover my out of pocket costs, help fund travel to Seattle for the surgery (I live in a rural area 5 hours from there), and to make up for my partner's lost wages as she will need to take time off work to care for me (for at least one week post-op while we are in Seattle) and does not have PTO through her job.

I am so grateful for my incredible community who have supported me through many ups and downs as I have navigated this journey and who have given me the courage to claim my full and whole self. I'm reaching out now with a huge ask, to my personal community and beyond, to be able to take this next step toward embodiment. As I think about paying it forward, I am committed to working with queer and trans youth and young adults as a mental health counselor in my rural community, where such care is especially needed. I am also in the process, along with my partner, of developing local programming for LGBTQ+ folx to build connection and community in affinity spaces.

With love and deep gratitude,

Clay