Evie - referral date March 2019

At latest estsimates, I'll have more than likely been on a waitlist for five years by the time I get my first appointment at a Gender Identity Clinic. Five years where I haven't felt in control of my own body. Five years stuck in limbo, hoping that maybe in some indeterminate point in the future, things will get better. Five years where my dysphoria has pushed me further into depression and poor mental health, where I have at times taken drastic and harmful action to try to maintain some sense of control within my life. Where, in my most desperate moments, I have attempted to take my own life on multiple occasions.

I am lucky.

I have, at the very least, been in the fortunate enough position to be able to privately afford some level of medical transition and support at my own expense. Many trans people don’t have this option.

I am so, so lucky.

Gender affirming care saves lives.

Far too many beautiful trans lives have been lost due to the state of trans healthcare in the UK, and it is only by chance that I am not one of them.