Hazel Moon's Gender Affirming Surgery

Hi! My name's Hazel Moon and welcome to my go fund me...

Summary

The goal of my fundraising is, simply put, to help me raise enough money to complete life changing surgery as the final stage of my transgender journey.

Due to a variety of complicated reasons (more below) this isn't something that can realistically be achieved on the NHS. Were I to rely on NHS gender services it is likely I would not be able to have surgery for 7-10 years.

Additionally, my hope is to travel to Thailand as this is where the best and most experienced sex reassignment surgeons are based.

About me...

I'm Hazel, I'm a 28 year old (at least for a few months!) and am currently studying to be a mental health nurse at the university of Brighton. Prior to that I worked for Bupa in various positions for several years.

I live with my partner, Finn, as well as many house plants and a leopard Gecko called Gecks. In my spare time I'm an avid Warhammer hobbyist and gamer, as well as occasionally writing fiction, blogging and being politically active. I'm also a keen cook and love to make a variety of vegan dishes.

I've known I wasn't like other kids and that I wanted to be a girl since I was very young. I first attempted to come out and transition as a teenager, but unfortunately didn't get the support I needed. This caused me a great amount of pain and I experienced a variety of issues, including substance abuse, financial issues, unstable relationships, self harm and several suicide attempts.

Since living full time as a woman, being on HRT and having my top surgery I've been much happier. However, having to manage living with the wrong genitals is incredibly distressing and something I need resolved in order to live a full and happy life. Hence my desire to seek your support.

Once this is resolved I will be complete in myself and able to look forward to starting a career and family without feeling like I'm in a body that doesn't belong to me.

You can learn more about the surgery here:

https://www.healthline.com/health/transgender/vaginoplasty

Wait doesn't the NHS cover that?

Many people who are passingly familiar with trans healthcare assume this is provided by the NHS. Unfortunately, this is not an option available to me for several reasons.

Firstly, the NHS gender identity clinic in London is currently providing first appointments to patients referred in January 2018. This is already close to a five year wait, and bearing in mind referrals increase year on year, this is only likely to increase. Additionally, this is only the first appointment. A formal NHS diagnosis and acceptance for general treatment may not follow for up to 18 months. After this point an individual must again join a wait list for psychological referrals for surgery before finally joining another wait list for the surgery itself.

Secondly, the NHS surgeons require patients to have a BMI of approximately 28-30 in order to be approved for surgery. This is significantly below the BMI I have held during my adult life. It is important to note this is not based on available evidence, please see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8363993/.

There is no evidence to suggest weight has any real impact on the outcome of gender affirming surgeries, nor is there any significant risk associated with anaesthetic (consider how many operations the NHS carries out on overweight people each year compared to their own stats on anaesthetic related complications).

Finally, there is also the case of surgeons. There are only a handful of surgeons practicing SRS in the UK and some of those do not do NHS work. It is generally agreed that the best and most experienced surgeons are those in Thailand.

Cost

SRS in Thailand with a reputable surgeon -£10,000 to £15,000

This covers the surgery itself and hospital stay.

Pre-Surgical Psychiatric Assessments in the UK - £1000+

The cost to pay both a psychiatrist and psychologist to conduct assessments and approval reports for SRS. These can require several appointments at an approximate cost of £300 per hour.

Costs of travel, accomodation and general fees - £2000

Flights, accomodation, agency / finder's fees, meals and general expenses while in Thailand.

Recovery Costs - £1000+

To help pay bills / food during my recovery period back in the UK where I will be limited mobility and my partner may need to take unpaid leave to care for me.

Emergency Fund - £1000+

An emergency fund to cover any unexpected costs and possibly minor revisions to the original surgery.

Thank you!

Thank you so much for taking the time to consider my GoFundMe. Even if you can't support financially, I am grateful for your time. Please do share where you feel it would be appropriate to do so.

Love,

Hazel