Looking For Help Paying Surgical Expenses post SA

Hi, I never expected myself to ever have to come to making this but here I am. I hate asking for help but I’m at my brink.

For those who don’t know me, my name is Colin. I’m your average Midwestern guy with a great family and good friends. My absolute favorite thing to do is make people laugh, if I can manage to make someone laugh so hard that they’re laugh is silent, I’ve done my job and my soul is fulfilled.

If you’ve noticed a decline in my attitude or personality over the last 3ish years, you’ve caught me. I haven’t been myself. I’m kinda there, kinda not. This is because I’ve been dealing with the after effects of a traumatic experience that happened before lockdown.

I was sexually assaulted while I was asleep by a someone who just happened to take advantage of a person who sleeps with their mouth open. I don’t want to go into full details because it’s graphic, and it’s traumatic to talk about still. During this incident, my teeth were shifted inwards rather than straight like from the years of braces and dental work I had done with my teeth through my life.

When I made it to a dentist, the dentist came to the conclusion that they were going to have to pull and replace them with a denture. I had them only take the top teeth out just out of pure pain, those hurt the most. So at 35 I became a denture wearer, top teeth only. I kept the bottom ones in because affordably it was all I could do at the time. The bottom ones were broken but manageable for the time being.

Well, time is up. My bottom teeth are now 90% broken, my front bottoms were holding on to dear life but finally decided it was time to fall out.

I know you’re all thinking “well he’s got dentures, he’ll live. My grandparents have them and they’re doing just fine!” Although I’m sure they’re doing amazing! I unfortunately am not, I’ve had them for 2 years come march and I’m still having so many issues. I gag while I wear the top denture because it covers the roof of your mouth entirely, all the way back! It’s insane! I don’t know how grandparents do it. I still wear them, but if you see me, just know I’m struggling to hide them and also I’m in pain. I’ve lost 80lbs, I haven’t had a potato/tortilla chip since 2019. It’s the little things you don’t think about.

This is why I’m doing this. I don’t like asking for help, I like being the one to be able to help. That’s even suffered, my confidence or even just my demeanor isn’t there to give full confidence in help to anyone. My confidence is gone.

If you know me, it’s weird for me to be quiet and reserved. This was traumatic. I’m still processing the incident to this day, the pain physically won’t go away until my mouth fully restored to the best it can be. Insurance won’t cover this procedure because it’s seen as elective. It’s truly not elective, I wouldn’t choose this. I hope no one would choose this. I’ve had the Heimlich maneuver used on me twice since November, it’s that bad.

I want to do good with this experience. Yes it sucked, it’s still a shock that it happened to me. A 6ft3 300+lbs man who can handle himself. But…I’m helpless when I sleep. I know you hear this a lot, but if it happened to me, it could happen to you. Once this procedure is behind me, I’d like to get into public speaking and talk about sexual assault and help others feel like they can talk about it. Just because you only hear women come forward, doesn’t mean it’s only a woman’s experience. It doesn’t emasculate you, it traumatizes you the same way that women feel.

this is my story. I’d love your support, help, advice, stories, anything. Yes I know I’m asking for money, that is embarrassing but I’ve exhausted all options, this amount I’m asking for would help add to a down payment for the implant procedure. This would be enough to move forward.

if you’d like to reach out to me on the social platforms.

I now need 40k for everything from start to finish. Bone work, then the implants. I upped the amount, I have the remaining amount. Blurggggg life

Thank you,

Colin Denton