Who am I? Hello, my name’s Alessandro and I’m a 19 year old trans boy (ftm) from Italy. I’ve come to terms with my gender identity in middle school, when I’ve learnt to give a name to the emotions I was feeling towards my gender assigned at birth. From then, I had known I was a boy, as the definition of a transgender person resonated with my sentiments and feelings of dysphoria immediately. I am currently in the process of starting hormone replacement therapy in order to feel more comfortable in my own body and finally be at ease. I have struggled with depression since my early teens: my feelings of dysphoria make it difficult for me to accept myself on a daily basis (not just on a personal scale, but socially and much more as well). I have been binding my chest since the second year of middle school, which means that I have been putting a lot of pressure on my ribs constantly. On the long run, this has led me to develop soreness and fatigue. Due to the years of binding, my ribs make a cracking sound and pop when I stretch because of how sore they have become (even when I refrain from wearing my chest binder). Why is this important? Having a flat chest is necessary for me to feel safe and comfortable with myself, which is why I keep binding despite of the health issues it keeps bringing me. A major health issue I’ve had due to excessive chest binding occurred in September 2024, when I had worn it so much it caused me heartburn, which gradually turned into bad acid reflux and resulted in bowel irritation. This kept me up the first two nights due to nausea and the need to constantly throw up. Medicine would not work, and it gave me a bad fever due to both physical and mental stress. Furthermore, it made it impossible for me to eat or drink anything except for water and plain sugar-free biscuits for over a week. Due to this, I had to start binding less often, which mentally devastates me. Regardless of the safety measures I’ve been trying to set for myself and my physical well-being, binding has recently (July 2024) caused my inner breast tissue to get irritated, forming a lump on the right side of my chest, in the middle-left leaning side of my aureola. This is due to internal trauma from binding: putting pressure on my chest for hours on end caused some fat to migrate. While I was conflicted about whether to start a LFEBridge for my cause or not as I was afraid I would’ve been too pretentious or asking for too much, it is this recent medical issue that has truly convinced me to start building up money and resources for my surgery, as it is something that I urgently require since I can only see my physical (and mental) state getting worse from here on without gender-affirming care. How are you planning to manage this process? Due to Italian legislations and burocracy (which hinder the process of getting a mastectomy as biological female chest anatomy is considered to be a vital organ by the government, making it a hard process for a trans person to request surgery when the organ is deemed “healthy”, meaning it does not contain any directly life-impacting damage like cancer), it is not possible for me to undergo surgery with ease in my country. For this reason, I will be traveling to Barcelona (Spain), and am looking forward to getting this procedure done at a specialized clinic. The goal of this LFEBridge only includes the costs of the surgery itself. I will do my best to collect the funds for the trip on my own, as I understand that adding the costs of the trip too would be overwhelming and, quite frankly, an even harder goal to reach. I will update this fundraiser constantly to keep you up to date as much as possible. Why crowdfund? The reason why I chose to act upon this through a fundraiser is that my family is not helping me pay this process, and I am a college student who is not yet able to work a full-time job, which is why even the smallest of donations could help me in un describable ways. If you choose to donate, know that I am extremely grateful for your support. And even if you don’t, have a good day regardless. Thank you so much for reading this.
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