A Georgia woman who made headlines last year in her quest to have her middle name changed from female to male has died of sepsis after having a hysterectomy reportedly as part of a sex change operation.
Rebeccah Feldhaus, 25, who goes by the name “Rowan,” had the surgery to remove her uterus earlier this month, but was readmitted to the hospital with complications a short time later.
“[There were] complications post surgery … and it started snowballing from there,” Austin Atkins, a friend of Feldhaus, told WRDW/WAGT-TV. “Rowan knew the risks going into all of this and [she] was willing to accept the risks to do what [she] knew [she] wanted to do.”
Feldhaus went into septic shock and then lost oxygen to her brain. She was an Augusta University student, Army reservist and board member of the homosexual and transgender advocacy group Georgia Equality.
A report from the Augusta Chronicle states that Feldhaus also had the surgery to treat polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a condition that occurs in women due to elevated levels of male hormones. PCOS is often marked by infertility and excess facial and bodily hair. Full report