When a girl’s boobs disappear, surgery for gender reassignment may be too late
A 14-year-old girl has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria after she lost her breasts for a year, leaving her with severe chest pain, the medical examiner’s office said.
Karen Lee Johnson, who is a transgender girl, had surgery last year to have her breasts removed.
The surgery was done at a private facility in Virginia.
“It was not an easy process,” her father, John, said at a news conference Monday.
“It took two months.
It was really, really hard.”
John, who lives in California, said he is still reeling from the loss of his daughter’s breasts, which he said were like “brains” and were in good condition.
Katherine Johnson, a spokesman for the Medical Examiner’s Office in Charlottesville, Va., said the girl’s condition has not improved since her surgery.
John said his daughter was born with female organs and a female body and felt like she was born a boy, but her parents never had a discussion about whether they should be living as the gender they identify with.
“I think she just did it for the money,” John said.
“They wanted to be the girl they were born with.”
John said he would like to see transgender people given the same treatment.
“She was a boy and she wanted to live as the girl she was supposed to be,” he said.
“I would like for that to happen more.”
“The only thing I would ask is that the transgender community be encouraged to speak out and be proud of their own bodies,” he added.
A spokesperson for the state Medical Examiner said in a statement Monday that the girl, who has a birth certificate, was given an accurate diagnosis and “an appropriate amount of time” to come to terms with her new body.
A Virginia Medical Board spokeswoman told The Associated Press that the board is reviewing the case and is “notifying her family that she has undergone gender reassignement surgery.”
Katherine’s mother, Michelle, who works in sales, said her daughter has “got a lot of work to do” and that “this is going to be her worst year yet.”
She said the surgeries were necessary because she does not have the money for gender surgery.
Killed By Transgender TeenagerThe Associated Press – Charlottesville, Virginia (AP)