Need your opinion: Not-For-Profit to subsidize surgery costs

[FLGyne]

Hello all:

I haven't posted much on here, but I have used this forum a lot as a resource prior to my surgery, thank you for that. I had surgery on October 4th, 2013 to remove my gyne. I'm in the military so the surgery was free, but like we all know, surgery is expensive and many do not have the means to cover it and are forced to continue to live with hampered confidence and lost opportunities in life, either financially, sexually, socially, etc.

I think most of us can relate to the fact that when you have gyne, all of your decisions are based on "what can I do to minimize attention drawn to my chest?" Well, it should not be like that and as someone who would've had the surgery earlier if the finances were possible, I missed out on many opportunities growing up because of gynecomastia.

I am considering starting a not-for-profit organization that would subsidize the costs of gynecomastia surgery for people who do not have the means. Good people out there are missing out on good opportunities and therefore society is losing out. I would like your opinion on two things:

1) Would you be interested in forming this organization with me? I haven't worked out any of the details but it will be by the book in terms of the law and open finances. We can knock our coconuts together later to hash out the details, but we will have to establish bylaws and criteria on who we help and how.

2) Would you consider contributing to such an organization? I don't want to spin my wheels in this if there is no interest. Those of us who had the surgery can empathize, and I simply cannot turn my back on those suffering with gyne now that I'm "normal."

Thoughts? Suggestions? Waste of time? Please be brutally honest because I am serious about moving forward with this. Thanks.

FLGyne

[FLGyne]

Welp, thanks for the 36 views, but by lack of response, I guess there is no interest. If you didn't understand from the above post, I was going to donate literally thousands of my own $$$$ to help people get their gyne removed. I figured this is a cause we could rally around and help those that are depressed and suicidal and who do not have the funds to literally change their life, because after my surgery, my life has been changed.

[jay adams]

I'm down bro. I'm a musician who asked the same thing before. I've helped one great guy through surgery. Stayed with him throughout the whole process in the same motel room until he flew home.

Let's do this. My surgeon goes to third world countries and donates his time to less fortunate kids. That's part of the reason I picked him. We need some of these docs with us. The docs on here are great.  Maybe like you said " someone who needs it real bad ". To me that would be someone real young with a bad case. In the late teens early 20's of course.

Great idea brother:)

[hammer]

May I suggest you talk to one of the law firms that are doing the law suits for drugs that are being blamed for gynecomastia, and see if they would be willing to help set up some of the funding to be ear marked for surgery for people not able to afford it. I know that this is a long shot, but what the hell.

On another note, my wife is a business manager/accounted for non profits and the one thing that she ALWAYS  talks about is what donors ALWAYS looks at is what is spent on administration cost and program cost. The lower the admit cost and the higher the program cost the better the chance of donations! If you can keep admit under 15% you will be doing great!


Bob

[FLGyne]

Thanks for the input, gentlemen. I don't proclaim to be an expert on non profits, but I am passionate about this issue because my entire career was derailed because of gyne and I know it's still happening out there.

I've put some thought into it and here are some things I've come up with, maybe you can give them some thought too and add or modify them for optimal success:

1) Unless this is wildly successful (at first), we will not be able to cover 100% of surgery costs. We'll shoot for 50% or some other percentage we can attain and tweak it over time, but obviously costs vary from surgeon to surgeon and patient by patient.

2) I anticipate costs being very low for this operation because I am donating my time 100% and will look for people who will do the same. I don't expect this to take so much time that we need a full time staff. The only costs I anticipate are possible legal costs with filing as a non-profit, website hosting ($10/month?), and literature (pamphlets) to spread the word. We will probably only be able to help 1 - 2 people per year at first.

3) Those we help will be strongly encouraged to help us in the future when they are better off. Like you said, Jay, late teens and early 20's is exactly what I was thinking too. Once they get older and get into a career, hopefully they won't forget us and contribute so we can help more people.

4) Should we try to pick a few trusted surgeons in different regions of the country? Or let the patient choose their own surgeon? If so, do you think the surgeon would give us a discount because we work with them exclusively?

5) We will have to establish criteria for who we help. I was thinking 18- 22 year olds and they have to prove they cannot afford it. (maybe a copy of last years tax return.) They will need write maybe an essay or a personal anecdote on why this surgery will change their life and how they will better contribute to society and our non profit after the surgery.  I think this is necessary because I expect we will get multiple people applying for this money and we won't have much to go around, unfortunately.

Excellent idea about the lawsuits, hammer. It's definitely worth a try and the worst they can say is no. If your wife isn't incredibly busy, would she be OK if we could throw a few questions her way once in a while? Maybe we can partner with some of the more prominent gynecomastia surgeons to pass out some pamphlets to patients they help (and who can afford it) so they can check us out and contribute to those less fortunate.

I'm moving to Seattle from Florida soon, so for now let's continue to brain storm and keep the ideas flowing. Thanks for the responses.

FL Gyne

[FLGyne]

I know there are surgeons that frequent this forum, any input from your perspective would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[hammer]

First things first! You will need to get a lawyer that is familiar with non profits to help explain the ins and outs of applying for non profit status and which one, c3, or one of the others. I don't know them all. I have been involved with Ham Radio groups that have been non profit and heard that there are others then C3, but wasn't part of the planning.

Once you have these ducks in a role, or while this is being done, I would say, yes to seeing if the doctors that are on this forum would be willing to work with this non profit. They not only are very good doctors but are very trust worthy!

Another thing that could be happening during all the legal mumbo jumbo is asking everyone on this forum to write down any phone number that they see on their TV of law firms having class action law suits against drug company's.

It may also work to go directly to the drug company's that make the drug causing gynecomastia. It could help them in the law suits against them, that they are donating for the surgeries to fix the problem!


Bob

[Paa_Paw]

It has been my experience that I could find a way to pay for things that were truly important to me. If someone handed me the money to have surgery today, I would likely use it for a down payment on a sailboat.

There is another side to this as well. We do not truly appreciate the things that come to us easily; We have a greater appreciation for the things that we had to work to achieve.

Since the condition is not at all life threatening, I do not believe that a non-profit is the right way to deal with it.

I was hoping that the internet would remove any stigma attached to the condition and that it would finally be treated like one end of a big curve called normal. Actually it is quite normal, about as normal as having blue eyes and certainly more normal than having red hair. Unfortunately the internet has been a failure in this regard. Falsehoods are more sensational than truths so they travel farther and wider with equal speed.

[Paa_Paw]

I certainly hope no one got the impression that I was trivializing the condition. It truly can be an emotional disaster.

But I do not think a non-profit is the way to deal with it. Save that avenue for the conditions that are life threatening.

[hammer]

The media today is filled with " camel dung " as to what is expected that a male or female should look like! As you and I well know Paa_Paw at is no where near to reality. It is like expecting us to look like GI JOE OR BARBIE and that would be physically impossible.

When you look at a magazine rack as you check out at the store it is full of this camel dung and as far as I'm concern it is nothing more then a big turn off, but to the younger people they get the idea that it is the way that they are expected to look, and that is why imperfections become such a major problem even those that are posting pictures that to you and I are hardly visible!

[FLGyne]

Thanks for the input, especially from some of the forum's more senior members. First off, we will not give money directly to patients. We will work with board certified plastic surgeons and verify through the surgeons office that the patient will in fact be receiving the surgery. Checks will be written to and mailed directly to the plastic surgeon's office. I haven't thought of all the documentation we would require to prove surgery, but I'll figure it out later. Yes, the patient may have to forego a little privacy with us so we can authenticate the surgery, but a little less privacy is the cost of thousands of dollars.

Second, I agree the media and magazines play a role in societies expectations of men to look like GI Joe, but those of us with life experience have an easier time accepting that fact than say, the 18 year old who is trying to identify as a man for the first time but is the target of harassment because of his boobs. Additionally, I believe there are statistics out there that show that gynecomastia is on the rise (rise of estrogen-mimicking pesticides and medications in the water supply? That was my surgeons postulation), so while it is becoming the new "normal," it may not be normal for men because we naturally are not supposed to have as much estrogen in our bodies than we do in these days. Also, I by no means look anything like GI Joe: I have splotchy hair growth on my back, I have a doughy mid section, chicken legs, but after my man boobs were removed, I had a renewed confidence and self worth.

Third, there are thousands of non-profits out there, many of which do not deal with life threatening conditions (education, trees, young artists, etc.) By that logic, plastic surgeons should be heart and brain surgeons instead of breast augmentations and rhinoplasty's (non life threatening). Not trying to be condescending, but my point is, we can choose to spend our money however we please and I think the goal for non-profits is to help people. Gynecomastia strikes home the closest and it is a cause I can readily identify. Not to mention, I do donate to the local children's hospital and an organization that fights human trafficking, so you can have your cake and eat it too!   

And an example of lost potential due to gynecomastia: I have a passion for aviation and flight. Loved it my entire life, and still do. While in Navy ROTC in college, I chose to become a submarine officer instead of a pilot because I didn't want to go to the water survival school and SERE school [read: shirtless] that pilot's are required to attend. My entire life is taking a different and, in my case, a lesser path because of gynecomastia. I could be flying F-18's, living a dream right now but instead I lived under water for about a year out of the past 3 years. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't miserable, but it wasn't my destiny. How many other dreams are not being realized? Is it selfish? Maybe, but again, it's difficult find and explain to every 18-22 year old that it's normal to have man boobs while he's being made fun of by his "normal" friends.

Hope you all are staying warm up there,

FL Gyne

[hammer]

A bubble head! HT2 here, among many other duties but no interest in subs, no way no how I likes watch the whales!

[jay adams]

Right on FL gyne!

[FLGyne]

A bubble head! HT2 here, among many other duties but no interest in subs, no way no how I likes watch the whales!

We can hear the whales real well on SONAR. Shrimp and dolphins too. Sometimes there was so much it cluttered up the SONAR display and it was difficult to hear the deep draft merchants we were trying to avoid.  Good times.

[hammer]

I was originally a CTT but a really bad 3 week ear infection took som of my hearing so ...---... Is no longer a way for me to communicate so I switched to HT. I do still enjoy the Ham Radio hobby less the --..!

I have a daughter that passed on being an officer to go MC, because that is her dream job! She was published in written word and music lyrics before she went in. In 2015 the ship she is on is switching home ports so she will get a world cruise out of that, so cool, dream come true  ,  I only made it to Australia, from Norfolk.