Rajee Narinesingh, one of the best known transgender women in America, has gone through so much in her life. Born in 1967, before the Internet became huge part of our lives, she couldn’t understand why she felt like a woman, and she certainly couldn’t Google it and learn more as people do today.
One thing was certain, she felt like she was trapped in a wrong body.
As years passed by, Rajee started going out and met transgender women at different clubs and that’s when she knew she was one of them.
She was eager to change the way she looked, but as all those surgeries and fillers cost a fortune, she decided to turn to the black market.
“The last thing I wanted was to look like a man in a dress. I wanted to be a beautiful woman,” Rajee told Daily Mail of her initial steps to transition.
“So I made the choice to get injections done – in our community, it is called pumping.”
Unfortunately, she met a fake doctor who destroyed the lives of many over the years, notorious Oneal Ron Morris, or better known as “toxic tush doctor,” as the media labeled her.
Rajee received ten injections from 2007 to 2010. Each of the sessions cost her $100, which was way too cheaper compared to what legal clinics offered. Rajee was perfectly aware Morris’ injections weren’t legal, but she though she could get the look she dreamed of for little money, not knowing that her life would turn into a living hell.
“When it finally came to the day, I was more excited than nervous because I was finally going to be the woman I had always wanted to be. There was a room that she had set up where she did a lot of medical procedures. It appeared to be pretty sterile,” Rajee explained of the first time she met Morris.
“It was like an extra bedroom that she had turned into a clinical area, and I would go in and pay the money. I got injections in my face and my hips, and my buttocks, and initially, I was fine. But then the nightmare started.”
Rajee’s body got deformed at the parts she got injections at. Large lumps formed under her cheeks, lips, and chin. She knew something was very wrong, but she was ashamed and afraid to leave her home, let alone alert the authorities of Morris’ illegal “clinic.”
“I felt like a monster, I really did,” she told Barcroft Media, as quoted by the NY Post. “A sideshow circus clown.”
Eventually, in 2012, Rajee gathered strength to ask for help. She started visiting Dr. John Martin of Coral Gables Cosmetic Reconstructive Surgery who gave her softening injections and laser therapy to soften the huge lumps.
Luckily, those treatments helped her regain her self-confidence. She started going out more and she even started dating.
“Now I’m feeling more confident, and with a good bit of makeup, I can achieve somewhat of an exotic look,” she told Daily Mail back then. “Recently, this guy said that being with me is like being with a sexy dragon. I didn’t know whether to slap him or kiss him.”
In 2016, Rajee received even more help when she was chosen to be part of the E! show Botched. Rajee applied the year before as well, but doctors weren’t sure how to help her. The following year, however, they believed they found a way to smooth her looks further.
“I have to make sure my plan is a conservative one, it’s a smart one, and it doesn’t take any undo careless risks with Rajee’s face,” Dr. Dubrow said on the show Botched.
Over the course of seven weeks, Rajee underwent four surgeries. Luckily, her face started looking better and better.
“My confidence has definitely improved,” she told Barcroft. “It has changed my life. It really has. I know I’m a big personality, so I’m always going to get stares, but now the stares are a little different.”
Rajee wasn’t the only victim of the self proclaimed doctor Morris. One person died due to the injections which consisted of cement, superglue, and tire sealant, the same ones Rajee received. The victims sued Morris and she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In 2021, Morris sent a letter to Rajee, asking for forgiveness. Rajee decided that accepting the apology would give her some sort of closure too. She shared the response to Morris’ letter on the social media. “What I have become more aware of as I have lived my life is that if we can get stronger from the hardships we go through and learn from the mistakes we make, then they become blessings. I feel the sincerity of your spirit, Sis, and I want you to know that I wish the very best for you,” Rajee wrote.
Today, Rajee is a wide known community activist and works with the LGBTQ community, as well as several other organizations. “I call myself a world activist or a community activist. You know, because of my advocacy for the black-market injections took me global! No, it literally did! And now I hear from people in Uganda and Australia, honey. It’s crazy! I mean, Pakistan! Wow, it’s amazing,” Rajee told The Body.
“So that’s one of the blessings. I consider the whole situation with my black-market injections and all the suffering I went through — I consider that a blessing, because it gave me a bigger platform to do my advocacy and my activism,” she added.
“You know, even before all the corrective surgery,” she added, “I thought, ‘Hey, this happened to me, and if I can share my story, educate people, and prevent this from happening to someone else, then I’ve made lemon meringue pie out of lemons.’”
One thing is certain, after everything she endured, Rajee looks awesome and is happy with her appearance.