Help Sydney Afford Life-Changing Top Surgery and Recovery
Donation protected
Hello! My name is Sydney, I’m 25 years old, identify as nonbinary, and use they/them pronouns. I live with my roommate and two cats and I’m happily dating my partner of 2 years. I’d love to be an illustrator someday, but I’ve been very happy taking care of the elderly for a living since 2020.
I’ve never been a huge fan of having boobs. When I started growing them I was mortified. Luckily they’ve been small most of my life, but once my 20’s hit they became a major source of discomfort and contributed towards my gender dysphoria and social anxieties. I tend to hide in baggy clothes and I feel limited in self expression. I thought because of the cost, top surgery wouldn’t be an option for me. A dear friend of l mine let me try on one of their binders and I suddenly knew this was something I needed to do for myself. I couldn’t stop grinning and feeling how smooth it felt and how flat it looked! I met more people who had experienced top surgery and I felt brave enough to pursue it myself. It no longer felt impossible.
On June 17th 2024, I broke a bone in my left hand and have been out of work. I lost my better paying job, but can reapply after I make a full recovery. I’m getting by working part time at my other job since July 22nd.
Because I’ve been out of work and had to dip into my savings, I’m no longer on track to afford the time off I’ll need for recovery and hospital bills after gender affirming surgery. I tried to get top surgery last year, but my surgeon never got my insurance to go through and by January 2024, they no longer took my insurance. Luckily in April 2023, I booked a consultation for April 2024 and was able to fall back on that Doctor. She has me scheduled for surgery January 2025. I’ll be turning 26 on September 16th and will have to start paying for my own health insurance in order to keep my surgeon and surgery date. I’m worried that I’ll end up swamped financially since I won’t know if my health insurance will approve of my surgery until after October when my doctor wants me to submit the paper work. I’ve been going to a gender affirming therapist since late spring in order to get insurance to hopefully approve my surgery. Therapy is costing me $65 per visit, and if I put off my surgery I will need to continue to pay for it to keep in good favor with insurance. I don’t want to go into debt, but I’m scared of losing my progress and having to start over from square one for a second time.
If I’m able to put together enough funds, I’ll be able to keep my long awaited surgery date and live a more comfortable life in my body. Thank you for reading!
EDIT: Hello, with a heavy heart I update to say that the cost is more than I thought it would be. My understanding of insurance was so severely lacking that I managed to not understand the cost of this surgery and what would be covered. I would need 12,000 after insurance and hospital bills. I’m not going to be able to keep my surgery date and likely won’t get to keep this surgeon. I won’t be able to afford the renewal of my insurance that my family had been paying for till recently in September. Unless I manage to raise 12,000 I’m not going to be able to get surgery for at least another year. Thank you to those who donated. Rest assured it will all stay in my savings to get this done someday. It means the world to me. Thank you.
Organizer
Sydney Elliott
Organizer
Carpentersville, IL