Kei’s Top Surgery support!

Hi, my name is Kei. I'm a Japanese immigrant trans woman in NYC, and I'm a dance artist and mindfulness educator. I've been in the original Broadway cast of Jagged Little Pill, Miss Saigon, and The King and I.

After a year and a half of waiting, I've finally been able to get my breast augmentation surgery scheduled for August 2023! I'm relieved, AND I'm also scared. I'm scared of outside judgment that could lead to harm or unemployment.

I've just left the national tour for my mental health before I got the surgery date. It was a struggle to tour around the country during my transition with the current political climate, if touring itself wasn't hard enough.

Although my surgery itself is covered by insurance through Actor's Equity, I cannot exactly work, realistically, until October 2023. Recovery will take 4-6 weeks until I'd gain full range of motion, which I need for my work, and then starting to reorient my body to actually be able to dance. I'm looking for auditions for the shows that start in the fall, but that is daunting, not impossible though.

My mental health has not been well for a while. Not because of my transition, but because of the reality of going through life as a trans woman. Grieving the last 38 years of my life. All the standard stuff. Money affects me in a deep place, and I'm afraid that I might spiral into a dark place with everything going on in my heart and in the world.

I'm just asking anyone who could support me to support. Whatever you can. Asking for help has been not easy for me. Being an artist, mindfulness educator, ESL (English as Second Language), and not able to see myself as a woman… I had so much to prove, or simply deep down lots of stuff was not for money… these made me resilient, hardworking, and resourceful. But isolated and hard-shelled especially navigating in this country. So this is my attempt to understand that I can ask for help in need.

So I'm here to ask for help! Please support my livelihood while I finish up with my top surgery.

Here are some of the ways you can help:

* Donate to my GoFundMe page. Every little bit helps.

* Share my GoFundMe page on social media. The more people who know about my fundraiser, the more likely I am to reach my goal.

* Reach out and say hey :)

Thank you for your help!

Warmest,

Kei