Kind Strangers Band Together To Help Pay For Trans People’s Healthcare

This December, we’re championing kindness in all its forms through HuffPost UK’s Kindness Advent Calendar. Check back daily (until 24 December) for new stories focusing on how individuals and communities are going above and beyond to help others in their times of need.

2025 has been a tough year for trans+ rights. Back in April, the Supreme Court ruled that the ‘definition of a woman’ excludes trans people – a landmark judgement that left many feeling scared and ostracised from their communities and workplaces.

This is sadly endemic of a cultural shift, as LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall reports that hate crimes against trans+ people have increased – there were over 3,000 trans-related hate crimes between March 2024 and March 2025.

Just this month, two leading organisations, the Women’s Institute and Girlguiding, both released regretful statements saying they will not accept new trans members going forward.

Yet in this time of marginalisation of trans+ people, one not-for-profit is helping bring hope to people facing lengthy waiting lists or uphill battles to access gender-affirming care.

Gender-affirming care encompasses a range of social, psychological, behavioural, and medical interventions to help support and affirm an individual’s gender identity when it conflicts with the gender they were assigned at birth.

This Christmas, Anne Health is running #CareForXmas; a campaign to raise money so they can help more trans+ people access healthcare. At the time of writing almost £40,000 had been raised – massively exceeding the £15,000 goal.

“As we gather with loved ones, exchange gifts and celebrate the festive season, it’s worth remembering that not everyone feels safe or seen,” reads the website.

“Gender-affirming care is lifesaving care. For many, it offers relief from years of distress, it improves mental health, supports physical wellbeing and helps trans+ people participate in public life as their true selves.”

Waiting times for trans healthcare vary across the UK with an estimated average wait in most areas of 25 years, according to a report by Queer AF and Claire’s Trans Talks.

In parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, people are having to endure two-and-a-half times that. Waiting times can range from three years in Nottingham, to 41 years in Belfast and a staggering 224 years in Glasgow.

HuffPost UK spoke exclusively with Susie Green, one of the founders of Anne Health. “Anne was set up in 2024 by Lizzie Jordan and myself in response to the lack of adequate healthcare options for trans+ people in the UK,” said Green.

“Both of us have fought for our loved ones to get the treatment they need and deserve, and we wanted to ensure others had better access to compassionate, professional care.”

The founders are all too familiar with how difficult it is to access trans+ healthcare in the UK and said: “Feeling lost whilst navigating options for access to care is common, and is a recurring theme we have heard time and again from trans+ people of all ages and the families who support them.

“Our vision is simple: a future where every trans+ person feels seen, heard, and respected throughout their healthcare journey. If it’s not good enough for the ones we love, it’s not good enough for you.”

The non-profit has so far supported over 1,000 patients and around 10% of those are accessing subsidised care in one form or another.

Speaking about the political climate and challenges facing trans+ people in 2025, Green said “it has been very challenging, which is why our free support services are so important alongside the private healthcare service we provide”.

Yet despite the negative impacts felt by trans people, the non-profit has also noticed a wave of support.

“We have seen significant increases in engagement across all aspects of our services: new patients joining, access to the free healthcare toolkit at over 5.5k users, and the level of donations for which we are so grateful,” added Green.

Elizabeth and her son Sonny, 17, have been massively helped by the healthcare organisation.

“We had been using a different online health service and although a lifesaver in some respects (as NHS waiting times had predicted at least four years) it still felt as if my son was not receiving a very personal health care plan,” Elizabeth said.

“He rarely spoke to a human being and the system wasn’t set up to be very user friendly. However, it was the most affordable private service and I wasn’t sure I would be able to find the extra costs that the other available services were asking.”

After researching the different options and contacting Anne Health directly, Elizabeth “was pleasantly surprised to get a very quick response”.

The care and support provided has changed their lives. Elizabeth said: “Not only has Anne Health taken over my son’s health care, providing a service that feels personal and thoroughly professional, we also applied and qualified for financial support.

“As a single mum on a modest income, this has meant more than words can express. Our financial situation has not been a barrier to making sure that my son receives the best healthcare available.

“After a number of years of worry, confusion and feeling lost in the system, seeing my son thrive … [and] knowing there is a team of professionals that we can contact at any moment, is the best feeling in the world.”

Sonny added: “As a trans young person, I really cannot overstate the power of gender affirming care. My gender dysphoria had me trapped in a cycle of intense hopelessness and crisis — I had a long history of suicidal ideation & I genuinely did not believe I would live to be an adult.”

He said the subsidised care “has given me back my life and my future in a way that I never could’ve imagined or hoped for”.

“I have been attending school regularly for the first time since I was 10, going out with friends, and living once more instead of simply surviving,” he said.

“The gift of gender affirming care is one that can’t be minimised. I finally feel human.”

Looking ahead to 2026, the founders of Anne Health are hoping for brighter horizons for trans+ people.

Green concluded: “Please let us see some humanity and compassion. Everyone is unique, we all, each and every one of us, without exception, deserves to feel safe and be able to live authentically without fear.”

If you’d like to support #CareForXmas, you can do so here. Got a kindness story to share? Please email uklife@huffpost.com with more information.