'I was so emotional': Saskatoon transgender man says top surgery lets him embrace true identity
After receiving top surgery to remove his breasts on June 1, Hunter Thompson is on his way to living out his true self.
The two and a half hour surgery included a mastectomy, nipple grafts and liposuction.
“I woke up and I looked at my chest and I immediately started crying. ‘They’re gone, they’re finally gone,’” he said. “I was so emotional.”
While the province covers the surgery itself, it doesn’t cover expenses such as travel, accommodations, food and medication.
Thompson said his nausea medication alone costs more than $100 and trips to Regina to get his drains taken out cost roughly $100 each way.
Zann Foth set up a GoFundMe page for Thompson to help cover his recovery expenses.
When Foth received top surgery seven months ago, someone did the same thing for them, so Foth wanted to pay it forward.
“I made a big batch of soup and I sold it to friends of mine and we were able to get a good $500,” Foth said.
Thompson said the fundraiser helped him to get the support he needed because his parents aren’t “very supportive” and are “negative” about his transition.
Hunter Thompson is recovering from his top surgery on June 1. (Miriam Valdes-Carletti/CTV Saskatoon)
“All the support that people have shown on it, like I’ve cried so many times looking at people donating. I don’t even know why you care, but thank you,” he said.
The page has a goal of $3,000 and has already surpassed $1,300.
Thompson said people are also bringing him meals.
His girlfriend, Jasmine Starling, has been staying with him to help in his recovery.
Starling said since getting top surgery, Thompson has a more positive outlook.
“Before, when I first met him, he was more shy and didn’t like being shirtless or anything tight,” said Starling.
“Now, he’s fully ‘Woo I can be free.’”
For Pride Month throughout June, Thompson wants people to know how important top surgery is for him and other transgender people.
“I looked in the mirror and I would cry every single time because I don’t like my chest and I didn’t like it at all. It felt weird to shower, it felt weird to get dressed,” Thompson said.
He said it “means the world to him” that top surgery is covered in the province because he considers it a mandatory surgery for his health.
Thompson said the next steps in his transition are to have the gender on his birth certificate changed and to legally change his name.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.