We share our lived experience and celebrate the awesomeness of being a girl, a biological female, a warrior, a witch, a queen, a mother, a daughter and the amazing things that being a woman allows us to achieve.
‘Staying You’ advocates for understanding and empowering those struggling with their identity to accept themselves in the body they have, we hold stakeholders to account and seeks the truth behind the sciences. ‘Staying You’ has been started by breast cancer survivor Mel Days, who knows all too well the pain and scars medical intervention brings because of the irreversible damage that has happened to her own body.
About Me
Mel Days was a primary school teacher, and now works in the fields of sociology and counselling. In 2018 – 2020 she underwent treatment for aggressive breast cancer. This treatment is very similar to the treatment that women and girls identifying as trans experience.
When Mel underwent treatment for stage 3 invasive breast cancer, she lost both breasts, and was given a radical hysterectomy and hormone blockers. The consequence of this life saving cancer treatment left her with irreversible physical damage that she would not wish on anyone. For Mel, the side effects of the cancer surgery and hormone blockers have been breathing problems, bone density loss, osteoporosis, chest pain, head to toe skin rashes, hot flushes, sterility, stomach pains, nerve pain, chest pain, numbness, restricted arm movement and loss of interest in intimacy. Finding out that individuals seeking support for gender dysphoria often receive the same invasive medical intervention as stage 3 breast cancer coalesced in Mel creating ‘Staying You’, a forum where she could empower those struggling with their identity to make informed choices and share their struggles.
‘I am beyond shocked, am so sad and deeply upset, that so few organisations are helping girls know the consequences of medicalizing their identities and are not instead supporting them to love themselves for all that they are in the perfectly healthy body that they are born in’ – Mel Day, 2023.
Source: Home | Staying You
I hree and support this mission. Young girls are having body dysphoria and boys too we have to create safe spaces for them to express their puberty concerns and changes