I've helped an acquaintance with a serious disease through crowdfunding, and even that was a struggle. Only those who knew them donated. Strangers will give out sympathy pretty easily, but not many will open their wallets.
This will prove especially difficult since it's cosmetic surgery. It'll be difficult to gather sympathy, it'd probably be a challenge even if you were a dwarf. Many tall people deny that there's any height discrimination; they simply don't believe it since that's the only life they've ever lived. Privilege is invisible from your own singular perspective, so you might just end up getting backlash. Since you're from the San Francisco Bay Area, they may also just tell you to save for it yourself.
The only analogous anecdote I can think of are crowdfunding sites for breast augmentation. Alas, men are more willing to donate for such things since it's sxxualized, and the cost is much lower so it's easier to meet a goal.
If you want to save some money, maybe it's better to coordinate an effort with a doctor who wants to promote their practice instead. You could offer yourself up as the perfect patient testimonial, with video footage and interviews for years down the road. But I wouldn't hold your breath that it'd be anything that substantial, since some patients are willing to talk on camera for free if they've truly had a good experience. If you've got any unfair advantages like social clout or technology to get that doctor on the map, this would be the time to sell them on your ideas.
How about starting your own blog and a channel on YouTube, eventually writing a book about your experience in hopes of getting your investment back? People will gladly pay to solve their personal problems, but rarely will they give money out of pure altruism.
That being said, these are my opinions, so feel free to try what your heart desires. You can probably beat Kevin!
Pros and cons to publicly fundraising my CLL
Yes, basically forget crowdfunding, but consider other ideas if you really don't mind the criticism you'll get from coming out with your CLL.
You could bring attention to heightism in society, possibly more investment into research/technology for CLL, maybe academic talk and discussion about the morality and psychosocial implications of surgery like this (which will surely be a factor much further down the line for any subsidizing of CLL for very short people), and maybe the start of the acceptance for all future height-increasing surgery people will surely go through in the coming millennia - all depending on how famous you are and how big the story becomes, of course. This is all for someone Tom Cruise levels of famous. It could just become a minor trivia in your Wikipedia page and not anything else - if you ever have one created for you, that is.
My main worry is still a bunch of stupid young people butchering themselves over their height dysphoria, and a false belief that current CLL is an uncontroversial and safe procedure. This is still not an easy procedure. As much as the pros seem exciting, this is a huge con.
I kinda agree with everyone else that this is most likely a bad decision for you, and the implication of more people trying to get CLL out of it really worries me. So, for being better safe than sorry, I'd suggest just being mildly public about it. Tell your coworkers, write a book, maybe see if you can give some talks about your decision to psychology and psychiatry students, not more.
QuoteYou can probably beat Kevin!
That's so sad, in so many ways...
Quote from: myloginacct on February 11, 2018, 12:44:24 AM
My main worry is still a bunch of stupid young people butchering themselves over their height dysphoria, and a false belief that current CLL is an uncontroversial and safe procedure. This is still not an easy procedure. As much as the pros seem exciting, this is a huge con.
I kinda agree with everyone else that this is most likely a bad decision for you, and the implication of more people trying to get CLL out of it really worries me. So, for being better safe than sorry, I'd suggest just being mildly public about it. Tell your coworkers, write a book, maybe see if you can give some talks about your decision to psychology and psychiatry students, not more.
+100
Quote from: myloginacct on February 11, 2018, 12:44:24 AM
That's so sad, in so many ways...
True.
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