Donation protected
My name is Ned Hairston (he/him), I am a preacher living in Fresno, California. I am the only openly Queer preacher in all of the churches of Christ and nondenominational Christian churches (at least on the West Coast).
I am trying to raise money to cover electrolysis hair removal as prep for gender-affirming surgery. This will need to be done over the course of around sixty sessions of 90 minutes each. Each session will cost around $200. My insurance will pay for the cost of the surgery, but they do not have anyone contracted for hair removal, so this cost falls to me.
I did write to my congressperson about this practical lack of coverage, but I do not expect any change to happen in time to be of benefit to me. Still, I pray they can fix this systemic issue so that other nonbinary/trans folks can get the gender-affirming care they need.
I have friends and family that are willing to help me with some of this cost, but it may end up costing up to $12,000 in total, so even with their support, it is a more than we are able to cover.
The cost of hair removal is difficult to predict. I may end up with not enough or extra funds. If there are extra funds, I will donate them to the church to set up a grant for other trans/nonbinary folks' medical needs so nothing will go to waste.
If you have any questions or want to contact me directly, you can find my contact info on the church website .
https://www.churchofchrist.lgbt
Cost Breakdown:
$200 per trip for electrolysis, typically removes 1-2 square inches of hair (2.54-5.08 sq.cm).
About 75% of that hair will remain gone, but the same area will need to be treated again to remove the 25% that grows back.
It will take at least 60 treatments to cover the entire treatment area, without accounting for the 25% of hair regrowth. Hopefully I will be able to cover the additional 25% myself, with the help of friends and family. At $3,000, it is still a lot, especially since I am on Medi-Cal, but it is hopefully a manageable amount.
Timetable:
My goal is to have an electrolysis appointment every week. There is no way I can afford to do that without help. With an average of 4 weeks per month that means electrolysis will cost $800/month. By having frequent appointments, regrowth becomes less of an issue and the entire surgery prep area can be covered quickly, so I can go from long appointments for initial hair removal to shorter appointments to deal with regrowth sooner.
Milestones:
$220 raised, first appointment in June is covered. Only $580 remaining for the month. I may schedule more appointments after the next one if more money has been raised. I'm able to cover the month from savings, but I'll have trouble covering additional appointments in July.
Thank you to everyone who has donated! You have no idea how much your support means to me!
