An 18-Year-Old Peterborough Transgender Male Launches Crowdfunding Surgery Campaign
/An 18-year-old Peterborough transgender male named Kieran Kelly is female to male, pre-op. Kieran started testosterone on March 28th, 2013, marking the start of his physical transition.
Being on testosterone has increased Kieran's quality of life monumentally. Kieran is more confident, and happier all-around.
Picture of Kieran via GoFundMe campaign
The next step for Kieran in physical transition is top surgery to remove any extra breast tissue. The surgery and associated fees come to be about $10,000—something Kieran simply can't afford.
So Kieran has launched a GoFundMe campaign called "Kieran's Top Surgery Fund" in order to make this surgery possible.
Yes, Kieran says, this surgery may seem like something he can go without. But there are many important reasons he wants to make this surgery happen...
• Binding (wearing a chest-compression vest in order to hide any extra breast tissue) is incredibly dangerous and can result in respiratory problems, as well as back problems. Not to mention the fact that it just causes really awful back pain.
• Not having had top surgery means that Kieran can't participate in a lot of things that other people can. For example: Kieran can't go swimming, because wet binders aren't fun to wear and he has yet to find any effective trans-friendly swimwear.
• There is a male role in a musical in Peterborough that Kieran would absolutely love to audition for, but he has to be shirtless on stage at one point.
Most important, he says on the GoFundMe page, "it has a really negative effect on my mental health. Being this unhappy/uncomfortable with your body, and being held back from participating in things takes a really huge toll on your mental health. My happiness is compromised big time by it, and it's all just because I was given two X chromosomes instead of and X and a Y."
Learn more about Kieran's campaign here.
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