Help Adeline Afford Facial Feminization Surgery!!

Hey hey, what's up? My name's Adeline and I'm a barista, social work grad student, and trans woman living in Central Indiana. I love reading, coffee, video games, hanging out with friends, learning about languages and religion and history, and most of all, gender-affirming care!

Ever since puberty, I've hated how my face looked in the mirror: my chin was too large or my forehead too gaping or the strange lump in the center of my neck protruding too far. Back then I couldn't, or wouldn't, put my finger on what I was experiencing, but I knew I was not happy with the "boy" staring back in the mirror. For a time I was able to tell myself that this was just the insecurities of puberty. But the facade would eventually crumble. In my senior year of undergrad I found myself staring, horrified and dissociating, at a bearded man in the mirror who I could not recognize as myself.

It wouldn't be until four months later, amidst the isolation of the lockdown of April 2020, that I finally accepted that what I had been experiencing for so long was a part of a much larger gender dysphoria.

It has been my sincerest and deepest held hope since then that one day I could live in the world fully as myself, in the image of myself, as the woman that I am. And that day is rapidly approaching.

On May 16th I am scheduled to receive Facial Feminization Surgery at a reputable clinic in San Francisco, California. This is a huge opportunity for me, and the culmination of my dreams, but I need your help to realize them. I am incredibly privileged to benefit from my family's insurance plan, which will cover an estimated 90% of the costs of the surgery. Yet, I still need the money to cover the remaining - $6500 - as well as the costs for the hospital stay, anesthesia, and food and transportation for two weeks. Due to my scarce credit history, there is very little I can take out in loans and so I am finally making the decision to set up a GoFundMe to help me cover the expenses of this journey.

I am setting the goal at $9500. I am erring on what I hope is an overestimation of my hospital and anesthesia bills, in the hopes that I will have enough money to comfortably cover any expenses. This money would go to the cost of the surgery itself, my hospital stay, anesthesia, and food and travel expenses. If the money I raise exceeds the costs of these expenses, I intend in the short term to put it towards moving out of Indiana to somewhere I feel safer and more at home at. This would help me cover expenses associated with moving and state social work licenses so I may find gainful employment. Once I'm financially stable I hope to pay forward whatever money people have graced me with to fundraisers established for Trans People of Color.

I cannot emphasize how thankful I am for this opportunity and for whatever help you can provide me, whether it's donating, or blasting my fundraiser all over social media. There are so many people who mean so much to me who are seeing this fundraiser and reading this lengthy little essay of mine, and I hope one day I can express it through a face and a smile that I know belongs to me.

Love and solidarity forever,

-Adeline <3