A FUNDRAISING campaign has been launched to help a transgender woman from East Lothian get breast augmentation surgery.

Jamie Scott, who is originally from Prestonpans but now lives in Musselburgh, has struggled with her gender identity from an early age and has had to face many challenges and hurdles on her journey.

Three years ago, the 21-year-old, who works as a make-up artist and trainee hairdresser, started her transitioning from male to female with the love and support of her family and friends.

Now, Joleen Clark, 41, from Pencaitland, and Amy Mason, 31, from Midlothian, owners of Beyond the Mirror hair and beauty on Musselburgh High Street, where Jamie works, are raising £6,000 to enable her to undergo breast surgery privately.

Joleen said Jamie’s transition has “never been an easy process”.

She said: “She has had to fight for hormones, which has taken over two years to be approved and released from her doctor.

“She has also been subjected to verbal and physical abuse which has left her fighting depression and struggling with body dysmorphia.

“Being a transgender woman is more than growing your hair and putting your make-up on, it’s waking up every day being trapped in the wrong body that you hate and feel is failing you. It’s never feeling confident or happy in your own skin. It’s never feeling beautiful and always feeling like you’re just the person who is stared at.”

She added: “Due to the tragic passing of a beautiful young transgender lady in our community, we decided we wanted to help Jamie on her journey.

“We want to see this most beautiful person feel like the amazing woman she is.

“Jamie is the most loving, generous, funny, witty lady with the biggest heart, so we are asking our local community to help make a difference in this lovely lady’s life by helping her have breasts, which we know would mean the absolute world to her.”

And Joleen hit out after Jamie was “trolled horrifically” and threatened on social media after the fundraising campaign was launched.

Joleen said: “At the end of the day, GoFundMe was a platform which was set up for people to raise funds for graduations and weddings, for example. It is a platform for anyone.

“We aren’t in the financial position to pay for the surgery – it’s a full reconstruction.

“Jamie’s story is tugging at people’s heart strings and they are freely donating their own money – it is their choice.

“We would like to say a massive thank you from all of us to everybody who has given support and for all the kind comments and messages.”

She added: “What Jamie has been through so far is unbelievable. She has a daily battle every day of her life. So what these people are throwing at her is nothing that she hasn’t heard before.”

Jamie, a former pupil of Preston Lodge High School, said she realised she was transgender when she was 15 but never told people publicly until she was 19, adding: “I knew there would be a backlash but I never expected it to be quite as bad as it has been.”

She explained: “This operation would mean such a lot to me and I’d like to thank everyone who has supported the fundraising so far.

“I didn’t ever expect anyone to do anything like this for me. It would change the way I see myself – it would change everything.

“Every day is like walking on a stage. It’s like my whole life people have just stared at me but there is also much positivity, although it doesn’t drown the negativity.

“You can have 100 nice comments and one negative is always going to hit you worse.”

Joleen said the salon fundraised for charity and currently had a raffle for more than £600 worth of products in aid of East Lothian Fresh Chicken Dinners and Women’s Aid. They also donate to local charities and collect for East Lothian Foodbank.

“This is personal because Jamie is with us all the time so we see the effect of the abuse, bullying and her depression, and how she feels in her own body – we live that with her. We don’t want her to be another statistic,” stressed Joleen.

Jamie said: “I think people need to look at the comments they have made towards me and understand why it’s so hard for people to come out and say who they want to be because that’s the reaction they’re going to get.

“We are just people – it’s not like I’m some foreign object. I wasn’t beamed here from another planet. I have always lived here, I was raised here and I’m just different.”

Jamie also gives up her free time to do make-up and hair for members of the transgender community every third Wednesday of the month, 5-9pm at the salon.

Donate here.