[Oliver_W]

She seems to be a bit of an attention seeker, if nothing else.

REAL LIFE: ‘Since I transitioned, life is brilliant’

It’s hard to imagine what it must be like waking up every day feeling you were born in the wrong body. But that’s exactly what life is like for people who are transgender .

Earlier this year, Katie underwent surgery and is now female, four years after starting her transition. She hopes to encourage and inspire others in a similar position to her. But what led to her making such a life-changing decision? ‘It all started back in 2014. I previously identified as a gay male,’ she says. ‘I went to a fancy dress party, wearing a dress.

‘I’d never worn a dress before. I didn’t really have any thoughts about being transgender. ‘But I went to this party and had a really good evening. ‘For several weeks after that I started to think about how comfortable I felt, not just because I was in a dress but because of my femininity.’ Katie, who was David at the time, went to see her GP and was referred to a gender clinic in Exeter.

She went on to have psychological assessments to test her state of mind and make sure that she was going down the right road.

She went on to have psychological assessments to test her state of mind and make sure that she was going down the right road.

By that point, she had ditched all her male clothes and had begun to dress as a woman. She was prescribed hormone treatment which she began to take straight away. They enhanced her breasts and gave her body more of a female shape. She continued to have appointments and assessments at the clinic until December last year when she was finally given a date for surgery. The operation took place in April this year at a hospital in Brighton.