Supplied: Sam Elkin
)Sam Elkin was driving home from Melbourne Airport in August 2018 when he was suddenly flung forward in his seat.
He was on the way back home from a "no-expense-spared" trip around Europe.
Now, the car behind him had crashed into his blue hatchback, Smudge 2, and pushed it into the car ahead.
"I felt defeated," he said.
Transitioning 'intensely stressful'
In the months leading up to his European vacation, Mr Elkin had begun transitioning.
When he first told people he was trans and was beginning the process of medically transitioning, people were supportive.
"All of which is just tops, but there are a million little ways that transitioning is intensely stressful."
Day-to-day activities, such as going into the men's toilets for the first time, updating the information on every single one of his utility bills and being hyper-aware of how people were perceiving his appearance, all took an emotional toll.
"About five months in, it was starting to wear me down because on top of all of this day-to-day complexity, the early stages of transition brought on even bigger questions with no easy answers," Mr Elkin said.
"Like, should I have chest surgery or other kinds of surgery and, if so, when?"
Supplied: Sam Elkin
)Feeling overwhelmed, Mr Elkin and his partner Gemma decided to withdraw their savings and go on a luxurious overseas trip.
So, with no expenses spared, they relished in their European holiday.
In Turkey they visited a hammam bath house, in London they watched the West End production of Hamilton, and in Italy they ate delicious food.
Mr Elkin said the holiday helped.
It gave him the space to come to terms with his new set of circumstances.
Holiday helpful, but expensive
When Mr Elkin reluctantly returned home, the testosterone he was taking started to kick in and his voice dropped.
With his hormones changing, the answer to whether he should have surgery to change his body was now clear.
The surgery would cost about $10,000 and Mr Elkin had just spent all of his savings on the holiday.
"I was so very, very annoyed at myself," he said.
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)And that is when a sleepy civil engineering student crashed into his car at the traffic lights on Williamstown Road.
"He told me not to worry, because he had comprehensive car insurance," he said.
In the following months, Mr Elkin found a surgeon and on June 5, 2019, he went into hospital for the operation.
"The next day, my partner drove me home from hospital [and] she exited the freeway on Williamstown Road," he said.
"As I looked out at the fateful intersection where I'd had the crash, I thought about how weird life is, and that being lucky or unlucky is often just a matter of how you see it."
Sam Elkin told his story as part of ABC Radio Melbourne's storytelling event Homespun.
You can listen to Homespun tonight at 7pm on ABC Radio Melbourne and Victoria, or watch it online.
