Help Valerie smile again

Today, I am writing to ask you to help my mom get her smile back.

Maybe you know my mom, Val(Hudsons Nana). Hailing from Manchester, England, this SoCal transplant has a charming Northern English accent, and always has a joke and a smile to share with everyone she meets.

For most of my life, it was just me and Val, and no matter what the odds, she worked and skimped to make sure I had new school clothes, braces on my teeth and a roof over my head. As a single and independent mom, she gave almost all of what she had to me, never paying much mind to her own needs.

But those years of hard physical labor, and lack of self-care, definitely took their toll on her body, and she now suffers from permanent disability and persistent pain. She survives on an extremely tight budget. But, if you happen to meet her at the grocery store, she will still always offer you a smile and joke.

Seven years ago, my mom was in an accident that caused serious damage to her jaw and teeth. Being of limited means, she found medical and dental "care" where she could afford it. She ended up being taken for a small fortune, and the repairs were never even completed.  

As my mom has been unable to pay for the necessary repairs to these repairs, coupled with her psychological fear of being taken advantage of again, she developed several bad infections.  This week, the state of infection and constant pain grew so severe that four of her upper teeth had to be removed, including her two front teeth.

While the removal has reduced her pain and contained the infection, she is now unable to eat or speak comfortably.

I am writing this to ask if you can help me get my mom's smile back.  My husband and I have had the absolute blessing of connecting with Withers Dental for her care, but a little bit more is needed than any of us can provide on our own. So I am reaching out for help from the collective generosity and good in this world!

I promise this isn't for a glowing set of Hollywood veneers to flash in her next selfie - just modest partial dentures and a few implants, to allow her to be speak, eat and function in today’s world -- a world that can be very cruel to those with missing and damaged teeth.

It is difficult to post this, knowing that people may start thinking differently about me or my mom, but my heart aches for her suffering. All I want is to repay her for all the years she put me first. But I can't afford what she needs on my own. And more than any illusions I have about my pride or my ego, I love my mother, and I will do everything I can to save her smile -- so I humbly ask for your help.

Any little bit you can spare will help bring my sweet mom that much closer the medical care she desperately needs to be able to eat and speak comfortably, and to smile again. Thank you for reading her story.