GET US TO THAILAND FOR LIFE CHANGING SURGERY!

Hi Everyone

So some of you may know me, some of you may not. For those who don't know, I am a Transgender female. Apologies if I haven't said it earlier or face to face but I didn't feel like it was necessary at the time to tell some of you because it was quite personal to me and I didn't want your perception of "Transgender" to confuse you or change your view about me. For those who do know my partner and are his family I do apologise for not saying anything but do not worry, we started the relationship when he knew I was "transgender" and he does see me as a female, nothing else and it doesn't change his sexuality. We just didn't want anyone looking at us strange or changing their views about us. So before I start my story I just wanted everyone to know that so there is no confusion or anything like that.

So now you know. I was born male. At the age of 2-3 though I stood out and I knew it. While boys were playing in the sand with trucks I was playing with barbie and wearing dresses with my girl mates and girl cousins. People even thought I was my mothers daughter. It felt right to me but being born in Gisborne, it wasn't really a "open minded" place at the time. I was bullied and harassed because of it and I didn't know why. Sadly I was in kura kaupapa and because of the abuse I received from the other students, it stopped me from learning my own language and culture so I ended up being a part of the English speaking schools. Went to Rotorua when I was 7 and grew up there peacefully until puberty hit.

Puberty was when I hit rock bottom because of the changes in my body. I hated my body and my face because I started not looking like my girl friends and started looking like my brothers and the rugby team at high school. I hated myself though I never knew at the time. Had the talk with mum and dad and they asked me if I was "gay" but the definition meant a man liking a man? it didn't feel right to me so I was even more confused of myself. It made me close off people in my life and made me kind of unsociable until I started dancing and met my first transgender woman. After talking to her and exchanging stories I knew from then on that I wasn't alone.

When I was 19 I wanted to go on hormonal therapy. My parents weren't really convinced about it. Especially dad because he wanted me to carry on the legacy... as a man. Many arguments and yelling later I finally went on the hormone pills against their wishes. I finally felt free though at the cost of distancing myself from my parents for a little while. But once they started seeing the feminine changes in my body, they started to understand a bit more. Now 7 years later my parents are fully supporting me, I have a partner that loves me for me and im doing what I love doing as a job.

HOWEVER I am not complete yet. The only thing I want in my life and I never ask for anything big before is... sex change surgery. Its for me and I'm not doing it for any sexual reason. Its to make me feel complete and give me freedom so I don't walk on eggshells around everyone anymore. I have researched everything and me and my partner want to go to Thailand. It can be life changing for me. My mother also wants to come and do a tummy tuck over there as well so we want to go together and support each other through our journey. We are thinking of doing it in the beginning of January. It might change but sooner, the better for us. I never ask a lot or anything but I do appreciate any support for us to get there to Thailand. Your support helps us with the airfares and accommodation but anything extra will go towards my mum and dad to cover them spending their hard earned money on me and my mums surgery. Its really expensive especially my surgery which cost in total around $15,000- $20,000 and that's the cheapest. So anything will really help us and we will definitely appreciate it. Thank you for listening to my story and I hope you find it in your heart to support my journey.