A Bonafide Unicorn
Questioning my family history and my identity as a transgender person
I’d say it all started when I had a hysterectomy last month that has me questioning my family history and my identity as a transgender person.
I’m the middle child of my family, raised as an only child when both of my brothers died as infants. My older brother, Matthew, had a disease of the membrane of the lungs, so he couldn’t breathe. He was also hydrocephalic, and if you don’t know what that is, it’s a build-up of fluid on the brain that causes the head to expand to incredible size. He languished on a respirator in the hospital for six months before dying.
My younger brother, James Barrett, died after only a few hours. All three of us were born premature, but James had no kidneys. Not underdeveloped kidneys… no kidneys at all. Back in the day, they called this Potter’s Syndrome. Now, it’s called Bilateral Renal Agenesis. But, without an official diagnosis from the hospital, this is all speculation on my part.
When I was born, other than being premature, I survived and went on to live my life, and until December 5th, I had assumed that as the surviving child, I must have been “normal” (whatever that really means. Am I right?).
