Vocal Feminization Surgery for Trans Woman

Howdy! My name is Michelle Belcher and I'm a trans woman. I've been extremely lucky in most regards as I started HRT on 2/3/20 and came out publically in April of 2020. It's been nice to be able to go through puberty for the second time while working from home so I can keep all this awkwardness to myself.

But when I do go out somewhere publically, I usually do not have to deal with too much misgendering. That is until I open my mouth and try and say anything. I have been practicing feminizing my voice for years but I am also hard at hearing and struggle with things like resonance and tone. And I'm just tired of my voice being inconsistent and exhausted all the time when attempting to speak en femme. 

My goal is to get a VFSRAC (Vocal Fold Shortening and Retrodisplacment of the Anterior Commissure) at Yeson Voice Center in Seoul, Korea. After years of research on this subject, I've concluded that this will be both the most affordable and safest process to get the feminine results that I am after. While I do have insurance, they have decided that this is not something they will cover. So I'll need to pay for the full cost of the surgery. 

Video of another patient's VFSRAC results!

Here's a cost break down:

•  $7,800 for the procedure itself.
• $900 for the flight to and from Korea.
• $650 for the 10 day hotel stay.
• $300 for food for the 10 day stay.

That's $9,650 total. 

And I'm just rounding up to $10,000 as there are always weird miscellaneous things that aren't accounted for when figuring this stuff out. And that gives me an extra $350 to work with.

This would change my life and give me the confidence that I used to have. I've been a performer my whole life, whether on stage or in front of a camera. I am a giant ham. But since coming out as trans, I have noticed that I rarely want to put myself out there anymore. My confidence is not what it used to be at all. And after changing things up to find out what the cause is, I've concluded that it's my biggest source of dysphoria. It's my voice. It's me explaining to any well-meaning individuals that "I'm sorry for the confusion but my pronouns are she/her". I want that to be assumed and until I sound like I look, I won't be able to feel comfortable or to perform to my best of my ability. 

Why now?

For lots of reasons. The most honest one is the sooner the better. This is my #1 source of dysphoria and it feels overwhelming to tackle due to the cost. 

But I also have two very important events coming up and I would like to be able to speak freely at them without having to double think about my tone and pitch for every sentence. 

• Covid willing, my girlfriend of 12 years and I are wanting to get married in 2021. And I want to be able to speak as myself at the event. 

• Mega Manathon 8: Mega Manathon is an annual charity event I run where a group of folks get together to play Mega Man games for 72 hours straight to raise money for chairty. Our upcoming even Mega Manathon 8 will be raising money for Direct Relief. And I'd like to be able to speak as myself without straining my throat the whole time.