Saving Susan's Jawbones
Donation protected
My sweet friend Susan Knowles (Sue Smith back in high school) is the kind of person who has always been the one who helps everyone else. She has always been there for me. Suzie isn't one to reach out for herself, and she may be upset at my doing this, but she's the one who needs help now. I hope you'll join me in helping Suzie with the medical expenses she's facing due to tongue cancer and the cost of the procedures required to save her jawbone after the damage done by radiation therapy. Please consider giving any amount you can.
Let me tell you her story.
In November 2018, Suzie learned she had a large tumor inside her tongue. A biopsy confirmed the worst: It was stage 3 cancer, and surgery was the recommended course of action.
On February 1, 2019, she went into Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC for surgery to remove and test 30 lymph nodes and vessels in the right side of her neck, remove the tumor itself, and replace the new hole in her tongue with a graft from her left wrist.
The surgery was successful - but they found cancer in one of the lymph vessels. Suzie went through the recommended radiation treatments that would increase her chances of survival to 85%. She completed 30 days of radiation therapy on April 26, 2019.
Radiation cut her salivary gland function by 70%, which contributed to the worsening after affects on her teeth. It inhibited her ability to eat and even speak clearly.
It also destroyed her teeth.
Recently, Suzie's teeth started spontaneously cracking and falling apart. Right now she's living on a liquid diet and is struggling to get back to 90 lbs.
Working with her dentist and an oral surgeon, Suzie learned she would need almost a complete extraction, nearly all on the bottom jaw and all of the top teeth.
And there is a complication: They cannot remove the teeth safely without hyperbaric oxygen treatments to reduce the risk of osteoradionecrosis - bone death of the jaw bone from radiation. Without those treatments, she will ultimately lose the jawbone.
While her medical insurance is covering the $90,000 oxygen treatments (minus her $6,900 insurance personal deductible), it won't cover the extraction (almost $5000), for which the oral surgeon requires full payment up front. And it won't cover the mandibular partial denture and complete maxillary denture she will need to support and protect her jaw bones, another high expense.
Suzie is always the one to help anyone in need. Let's help her now.
Thank you.
Let me tell you her story.
In November 2018, Suzie learned she had a large tumor inside her tongue. A biopsy confirmed the worst: It was stage 3 cancer, and surgery was the recommended course of action.
On February 1, 2019, she went into Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC for surgery to remove and test 30 lymph nodes and vessels in the right side of her neck, remove the tumor itself, and replace the new hole in her tongue with a graft from her left wrist.
The surgery was successful - but they found cancer in one of the lymph vessels. Suzie went through the recommended radiation treatments that would increase her chances of survival to 85%. She completed 30 days of radiation therapy on April 26, 2019.
Radiation cut her salivary gland function by 70%, which contributed to the worsening after affects on her teeth. It inhibited her ability to eat and even speak clearly.
It also destroyed her teeth.
Recently, Suzie's teeth started spontaneously cracking and falling apart. Right now she's living on a liquid diet and is struggling to get back to 90 lbs.
Working with her dentist and an oral surgeon, Suzie learned she would need almost a complete extraction, nearly all on the bottom jaw and all of the top teeth.
And there is a complication: They cannot remove the teeth safely without hyperbaric oxygen treatments to reduce the risk of osteoradionecrosis - bone death of the jaw bone from radiation. Without those treatments, she will ultimately lose the jawbone.
While her medical insurance is covering the $90,000 oxygen treatments (minus her $6,900 insurance personal deductible), it won't cover the extraction (almost $5000), for which the oral surgeon requires full payment up front. And it won't cover the mandibular partial denture and complete maxillary denture she will need to support and protect her jaw bones, another high expense.
Suzie is always the one to help anyone in need. Let's help her now.
Thank you.
Organizer and beneficiary
Karen Belmonte
Organizer
Tempe, AZ
Susan Knowles
Beneficiary