Short Summary

Who I am:

My name is Kyle! I'm not so different from everyone else. I'm 24 years old. I graduated college with a psychology degree. I'm a vegetarian. I'm a runner. I'm liberal. I'm a virgo. I enjoy hiking, eating pizza, and watching movies. I'm from Massachusetts. And I live a pretty average life day to day. I also happen to be transgender. I'm a female-to-male transgender man to be more specific. For those who have no idea what that means, I’ll explain. I can only speak from my personal experience but, I was born physically female from birth, but as far back as I can remember I felt male. At approximately 4-5 years old I didn't understand why people insisted that I was a "little girl." I hated with every ounce of me that I "was a girl" as people said. It was a very confusing and uncomfortable thing, growing up. I hated that everyone didn't see the real me, the boy that I knew I was.

In my teenaged years, I found out that there were people like me who transitioned from female to male and lived happy and fulfilling lives as the men they always were. I knew immediately "that's me," I was this "transgender" people were talking about. It was scary and confusing but at the same time liberating because I finally knew why I felt so different from other "girls." I was convinced I would lose my family and friends when I made this transition, but I didn't care. I knew I needed to do this to be happy. So I waited until as soon as I finished highschool and came out to my family and friends. To my surprise, everyone took it fairly well! Everyone that was at all important still loved and supported me, including Mom and Dad and the rest of the family. Shortly after, I legally changed my name, started hormones, and scrounged up every penny for a few years working as a pizza delivery boy so that I could pay for my top surgery (breast removal). Mom and Dad support me by letting me live in their house rent free and covering various bills, but every penny of the $7,000 top surgery fee was my money at 19 years old. If they had the money, they certainly would help me pay for my surgeries but they just can't afford to. I've been on hormones for 5 years and had chest surgery about 4 years ago and that has helped tremendously in allowing me to finally feel comfortable in my own skin. I finally start to feel normal. I finally started to feel like I could breathe. But I know for me to feel complete and whole, my entire body needs to be fully male. I need to have genital surgery.

My campaign:

Which leads me to why I'm making this page. I've been saving for lower surgery (aka genital reconstruction which for FTMs means the creation of male genitals). Saving was going fairly well until I hit some financial setbacks. My dog, Mei Li, got sick and I spent almost all of my savings on her. She didn't end up making it but she lived 10 long very happy years full of love! Shortly after her death, my student loan bills started to roll in making it extremely hard to save money the way I used to. I bring all this up because transgender people, we have financial set backs just like everyone else, but to deal with them on top of $10k-$50k surgical fees is at the very least, disheartening and at worse sometimes impossible with no insurance willing to help us. Saving for these gender affirming surgeries can and often does set us far back financially behind our peers. Right from the get go we are stuck trying to figure out how to pay, unless we are of the lucky few that have a trans friendly health insurance plan or rich relatives. Some trans people have to litterally wait years to have the surgeries they need. Some never are able to have them because of lack of health insurance coverage. My next surgery will be 9,090 but it is only my first stage. I will have another surgery sometime after at a similar price of this first stage. Would it be impossible to save up all the money I'll need for my surgeries? No, it's not "impossible," but it will literally take years without outside help (fundraising, loans, etc.) It is not easy for me to ask for help but I saw others succeed so I thought I would try.

I had my heart set on having my first stage genital surgery at the end of this summer. After spending my entire savings on Mei Li's surgery, I tried everything to secure a loan to come up with the rest of the money so that I could still have surgery this year. But with tons of debt from student loans, my good credit score doesn't mean much, so I was unable to get a loan. This is why I'm reaching out to the world for help.

My health insurance does not cover any transgender related surgeries. They say that it is "cosmetic." To me, this is not cosmetic. This is my life. My story is not tragic, I don't want you to feel bad for me (or us, as transgender people). But I want everyone to know, that this is a common problem among trans people. I have body dysphoria. I know that I am a man and want to look into the mirror naked and see the right body parts. I want to finish my transition. I want to be a whole and complete person. This first stage of genital surgery will finally give me what I need to see in the mirror. Cosmetic surgery is surgery carried out purely to enhance appearance. This surgery is not purely enhancing my appearance, it's enhancing my psychological and emotional state. I need it to feel complete and whole, and assimilated into the world of my peers, and while I certainly don’t let being pre-op stop me from enjoying all the great things that I have been blessed with, at the same time, I know that I need this surgery to feel whole and close this chapter of my life.

What you'll be helping achieve:

Contributing to this campaign will be directly helping me make this much needed and long overdue surgery a reality. You will have the satisfaction of knowing that you're literally helping to profoundly change my life. In a literal sense, you’ll be helping to give me the genitals I need. (Men, you know the weight of that!) You'll be helping me function normally. You'll be helping me look in the mirror comfortably for the first time in my life. But more importantly, passing along this page will help create awareness to the issues of discrimination in health care faced by transgender people in this country. By passing this along, and talking about this issue, you're creating awareness of how lack of health care coverage affects trans people, so that hopefully some day soon we can begin to push for health care equality!

What We Need & What You Get

The breakdown:

Surgery costs +  travel and lodging = 10,090

I should be able to save $4,000 on my own

so after the taxes they take off over here it leaves me with my goal of $6,500!

This will be the first of multiple stages but this first stage is the most important to me. And even if the goal is not met every dollar will make this surgery happen much sooner than it would otherwise.

Perks:

Here's what you get for donating! (shipping is all ready included in all donations!!!!; U.S. Residents only)

$1 - (Price Reduced) For just $1 ask me any question! Any question you want related to being trans or anything else for that matter but I hope that this facilitates some good discussions on the topic of transgender. If you've ever been scared to ask, now is the time to do it. Ask anything respectfully and I promise to answer and not judge you for any lack of knowledge you may have about transgender issues. Anything you ask that I don't have the answer to I will lead you to the proper resources that do have the answer. And of course you can always feel free to ask me random things like my shoe size, height, etc.

$5 - (Price Reduced) For $5 recieve a personalized "Thank You" card from me!! Be sure to give me your address and the name you'd like me to address you as in the card.

$9 - (New Item!!!!) Handmade Crochet Dishcloths  for $9 - These are made by my good friend Ally. She's making these and donating them to my fundraising. Have a nice dishcloth in your kitchen and help my cause for just $9!!! (U.S. Residents Only)

$11 - Recieve a 24" Seashell Necklace - These pretty seashell necklaces are on a 24" chain and you get one with an $11 donation!!! 

$15 - Recieve a Handcarved Brazilian Good Luck Keychain Charm!! These charms are hand carved and donated by my grandfather. No two are identical. They are all approx 2"-2.5" long. Wear one on your keychain for good luck!

$15 - Recieve a Dreamcatcher Necklace! - These are very pretty necklaces that feature a dreamcatcher on a 24" chain. 

$20 - Dreamcatcher Necklace & Earring Set - A 24" Dreamcatcher Necklace and matching earrings for a $20 donation!

(SOLD OUT!!! - $20 - Small Hand Carved Statue - SOLD OUT!!!!)

$25 - (New Item!!) Hand Carved Animal Statue - Hand-carved and donated to me by my grandfather. One is a bear has all ready been sold but the dolphin (9" tall) jumping out of the water is still available!!!! (U.S. Residents Only)

$27 - Hand Knit Slouch Hats - These hats are knit by my friend Becky Forand. One of them can be yours for a $27 donation.

$30 - (New Item!!!) Hand made Wood Burned Drawings - These are wood burned plaques hand made by my mother. The first is a light house in an ocean scene (12"x9.5"), the second is a beautiful lake scene (13"x9.5"), the third is a scene from the children's book Ferdinand the Bull (12"x9.5") and the fourth is a sugar skull [day of the dead skull] (9"x9.5"). Here are the first two scenes, and the other two are still being made by my mother. Pictures will be up soon of the skull and Ferdinand. Specify your preference, I'll remove pictures as things are sold but feel free to email me with questions of availability (kylec920 at hotmail dot com).

$35 - Recieve an Original Drawing from me!!!!! I'm not very talented but I'll make you something "original" and special!!! and I take requests!!!! lol

$40 - Large Hand Carved Wooden Statues - Last but not least, these beauties!!! These are the large hand carved wooden statues. Again, these were handcarved and donated by my grandfather. Each features a different face but they are all between 8"-10" tall. These carvings feature elderly men's faces with long intriciate beards. 

If my surgery costs are not reached, all of the money raised here will go into my surgery savings account, and I will continue to save until I have all the money for surgery.

The Impact

You contributing to this will be directly helping me have this much needed surgery so that I can finally feel complete. But more importantly, passing along this page will help create transgender awareness to the issues of discrimination in health care and health insurance faced by transgender people in this country. If you cannot donate, spread the word, pass this around, and you'll be helping people see that transgender people are quite normal, happy, healthy people, but we have many obstacles put in our path because of the society we live in.

Many countries around the world cover transgender surgeries and other transgender healthcare related expenses. In the U.S. even the American Psychological Association (APA) as well as the American Medical Association (AMA) recognizes that surgery is proper and approrpiate treatment for transgender individuals. They agree that it is not "cosmetic". Yet insurance companies in this country are allowed to discriminate against transgender people by defining these gender affirming surgeries as "cosmetic surgery." They also sometimes call them "experimental" even though these surgeries have been performed for decades. Talk to a transgender person about how they really feel. Get to know a transgender person in need of surgery, and you will know that this is not a cosmetic procedure being done. These are much needed, life changing surgeries.

Other Ways You Can Help

Even if you can't contribute to my page, make noise about what's going on! Share this page on your various social media sites. E-mail it to your friends. Talk about transgender issues. Ask questions. Look up information. Stay informed. Know what's going on. Speak out against discrimination. Talk to a transgender person. Find out about where your government officials stand on transgender equality and health care. Ask them to support legislation related to transgender equality, espeically in healthcare. Make phone calls. Make noise. Do whatever you feel comfortable doing, but trust me there is plenty to do! Change doesn't happen overnight, but a strong steady push makes it happen slowly over time.

"Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government, practically just so much."

-Abraham Lincoln