Morgan Miller is organizing this fundraiser.
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PLEASE, ONLY DONATE IF IT IS WITHIN YOUR MEANS
This is not an urgent fundraiser. While it is important to me, my head is above water currently. Please don't donate if it would put you in a bad situation. I'd like to have a clear conscience about any raised funds.
What is this for?
This is a fundraising campaign for my transition. In particular, the goal is to get facial feminization surgery (FFS) and electrolysis around mid-2022. Getting the damage done by puberty remedied is something I've daydreamed about since I came out in late 2017. I’ve heard from so many other trans women of how hard it hits them when they walk past a mirror: the person in the mirror finally aligns with who they are on the inside. They’re finally seeing themselves. That’s my ultimate goal and this surgery is the largest stepping stone from where I’m at now.
Who am I?
My name is Morgan. I'm a college student studying Gender and Sexuality as my major. It's become a personal passion thanks to both great teachers and me being trans. I am currently taking a break from my courses due to the pandemic, and hope to return as soon as possible. I’m a Las Vegas/Henderson resident and have been since I was four. I’m a person of color of mixed descent who has a heck of a lot of love for my friends. I like sappy fantasy games and mercilessly gush about my favorites (namely Final Fantasy XIV) to any of my ever-patient friends who’ll hear me out.
I first started realizing I was wrestling with gender dysphoria a few years ago around 2017 and have slowly come out since then. Thanks to some supportive and loving friends who have gone above and beyond, I’ve been able to enjoy being treated to my preferred pronouns and then some, but I’ve still got a whole lot more to do for my transition. I hope that someday I’ll be able to help other trans & LGBT folk either directly or indirectly.
Why Fundraising?
Despite this sort of treatment being known to be effective for treating gender dysphoria and relatively safe as a surgery, insurance companies generally don't cover it – the plan I'm under included. While I can appeal for preauthorization, the odds on this alone aren't great. Without it, that leaves me with fees and challenges that have this dream procedure feeling well out of reach for the foreseeable future.
Why now?
I just turned 24 a few days ago at the time of writing, and as time has gone on, I’ve grown more and more worried over how long it may be until I can transition the way I’ve dreamt.
I'm starting this GoFundMe now because I'd be able to have this fundraiser out there for 1.5~ years when mid-2022 comes around. That'll be the ideal time to get FFS because I fall off my folk's insurance plan when I turn 26 (early 2023). If I do manage to get preauthorization, I'd need to get it done well before then, just to be safe. However, if I fall off of my parent’s insurance plan, it’ll become a whole lot harder to get this project off the ground. I’ll have to figure out paying for health insurance on top of my ongoing hormone therapy costs and it will be that much more difficult to achieve.
Additionally, getting this fundraiser up early will give me time to apply to some of the grants out there to help trans people pay for life-changing surgeries like this. That way I don’t need to rely entirely on this GoFundMe. Most require that you get the surgery within 12 to 18 months after being accepted so I’ll be applying to as many as possible when they open up for applications later this year and early next (Fall 2021 - winter 2022).
If this GoFundMe hits the $20,000 mark well before the fall, I’ll go ahead and start contacting surgeons early and start poking around for consultations. I have a few surgeons I’m interested in, but I’m open to referrals.
Why is the funding goal set to what it is?
Most surgeons don’t outright share how much they charge for procedures. Facial Feminization Surgery in particular is tricky to pin down a price for since it’s usually a combination of surgeries recommended by the surgeon for the patient’s face based on what they feel would be most effective.
The range of potential prices for FFS online is anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000. The price is affected by a range of factors including the number of procedures needed, travel costs (hotels, flights/car rides, etc), additional medical fees (anesthesiologists, x-rays, tests, etc), hospital/facilities fee, and more. My goal is specifically set to $51,450 to take into account the fees GoFundMe collects.
Ideally, I’d like to have the funds to pick the surgeon I feel most comfortable with and confident in. A botched surgery, especially one for your face, can ruin a person’s quality of life.
If there is any surplus after the FFS costs, it’d go towards electrolysis (hair removal).
Why no pictures of me in the initial GoFundMe?
I realize this may only hurt the fundraiser, but I can't stand pictures of myself–a feeling many pre-transition folks can relate to. I have online friends who have known me for many years who have no idea what I look like, but I can't bring myself to take a selfie or anything like that and not feel sick and overwhelmed.
To make up for it, I'll be working with any potential surgeons and my primary care doctor to provide receipts and maybe even letters from them to funders. I’ll also do my best to keep funders updated on changes and update them on any progress. I’ll also do my best to address requests to verify my identity and would be alright doing voice calls on Discord or similar online platforms. Just keep in mind, I'm hoping not to put out more personal information than I need to for safety reasons.
If this gets funded, after things settle and heal post-surgery (the face will be swollen and will need to settle for around a month), I'll do a face reveal for the GoFundMe funders and my friends online. It’ll be no small thing for me, but if this gets funded, it would be the least I could do.
Thank you so much for your time and consideration.
Also, big thanks to Edmund, Kai, and Torin for the help putting this together ♥
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Organizer
Morgan Miller
Organizer
Las Vegas, NV
