I have known I was in the wrong body since I was 11, now after surgery in Turkey I am finally me!

Shona Thompson always knew she was different, but didn't realise the amount of struggles and prejudice she would have to battle for wanting to be.

The 41-year-old from Blackpool says ever since she bravely came out as a transgender woman after lockdown in 2020 she has been met with a barrage of ignorance from her mum and medical professionals.

Ever since she was a 11 years old, Shona, who is a wheelchair user, knew she was a woman and that she was given the wrong body.

She said: "I used to play with dolls and netball - all the stuff girls do.

"Since I was 11 I knew there was something different about me. I hated looking at certain parts of me in the mirror."

When she finally decided to be herself, she was further met with people telling her she was wrong.

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The NHS worker added: "My mum was a drug user and when I told her I was transgender she beat me and put me in hospital when I was 11 years old.

"I was passed from care home to care home.

"When I went to the GP asking for a referral for gender reassignment, I was told that I was wrong and instead needed conversion therapy, not gender reassignment."

Deciding she wasn't getting the help she so desperately craved from trained professionals, Shona decided to go it alone and ended up paying for the treatment herself in Turkey which set her back £8,000, but again this was far from plain sailing.

On February 18, she was admitted to Blackpool Victoria Hospital through A&E due to an infection in her neo vagina, which was created for gender reassignment surgery.

She claims the infection was caused by her dilator which had been in place on her way home from Turkey.

She added: "Throughout my stay I was repeatedly misgendered by doctors some nursing staff and healthcares.

"I was taken to theatre to have a debridement of the wound and when I came back from theatre, I noticed some yellow puss, which then turned brown on smelling the pad.

"I raised my concerns to the nurses and it was also observed by doctor on a number of occasions.

"I made this clear that there was faecal matter on the pad. It was brown and smelt I was discharged and my concerns were not listen to even those concerns of my wife."

She returned to Turkey to fix the issue and luckily, her surgeon provided the second treatment free of charge and she is now on the mend. Thankfully, Shona has a loving support system in the shape of her wife of 10 years Katy and their two children.

She hopes coming forward with her story will help shed the stigma attached to transgender people and also help them come forward and speak up if they think something is wrong.

She added: "We are all human beings at the end of the day."

A spokesman for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals said that Shona was in conversation with the Patient Liaison Team, and until those were complete it would be inappropriate to comment.