Crossing a painful divide

For years, Ben Power felt he was born into the wrong body. Transitioning, and peer group support have helped, he tells Caomhán Keane

SUSAN Woods had picked her spot. Sat behind the wheel of her BMW the father of two had found the perfect place to end her life. Conscious of the fact she had been trapped in a man’s body since the age of four she had no more fight left in her. If she didn’t transition she’d die.

But, taking her car to 120mph, her mind was filled with the possible consequences of that decision. “I was facing the loss of my wife, my family, my earning ability. My place in society, ” she says. “My identity, as every one knew it, was about to change.” Feeling like she’d failed as a man — and not knowing if her kids could cope with a transgendered father — she planned to speed into an exposed bridge pillar off the Ashford Bypass.