Emily's Surgery Fund
My name is Emily Stephens. I am a MtF transgender woman and this is my
attempt to raise some money for Sexual Reassignment Surgery (or SRS), a
surgery that will severely increase my quality of my mental health. To the right there is a "Donate" button. All you have to do is click that and enter your donation amount and everything will be great. I will periodically post updates to let people know where we are with the fundraising.
A little about me
I
first knew that I was TG (transgender) when I was 10 years old. A
friend I had at the time casually asked me if I had ever thought about
being a girl. After all the ten-year-old introspection I could manage, I
realized that I had been having dreams in which I was a woman. The
dreams started sexually (puberty, what can I say?) but quickly moved to
more casual dreams.
I put it to the back of my mind after that.
Even then I knew it wasn't a thought I should be having. When I was a
teenager I would wear lingerie and take pictures. I went through a
gothic phase, mostly because it was ok for goth boys to wear makeup and
paint their nails. Needless to say, I have always felt like an outsider
even though I made friends easily as a child.
My teen years were
tumultuos to say the least. As a coping mechanism I started self
harming using anything sharp that I could find. It was shortly after
that I found myself in the hospital due to a severe suicide attempt. I
was hospitalized for three months, alternating between medical and
psychiatric units, and put on medication. It wasn't until years later
that I realized that was going on with me. Once I did that, I was able
to get on hormones and things were sorted for a while.
Since
then things have improved and gotten worse at the same time. My body
changed with the doses of hormones and it was nice. My hair is softer
and more fine, my skin is softer, and I have breasts!
That was in 2006 or 2007.
Over
the years there have been numerous suicide attempts and more self harm,
all because my body does not make sense to me. Despite all of the
positive changes that have happened to my body, there is still the one
big change that is yet to come. That little part of my anatomy has
caused so much confusion and identity issues for me.
Right now
my life is going well all things considered. I have been living as a
female for the past 7 or 8 years and it is wonderful. My name was
legally changed to Emily in 2009.
How will my money be used?
The
final goal is for $10,000 and is enough to cover the surgery and all
related expenses with Dr. Saran in Thailand, which is essentially the
sex change capital of the world. Any leftover money will be used for any
follow up procedures or complications, travel expenses, and unexpected
circumstances related to surgery.
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