Cecilia's Smile

As you likely know, on August 30th, Cecilia had an episode of vasovagal syncope, lost consciousness, and fell hard on her face, breaking her jaw *in three places,* also knocking out two teeth completely, and breaking a third in half. As you may not know, student health insurance does not cover dental emergencies unless the patient is in the hospital. Because of the holiday weekend, the St Joe's dentist was not available while Cecilia was in-patient (for two nights!), and now all her dental work will be outpatient. She is at home, with Haylee and Maya taking ongoingly incredibly good care of her, and many other MFAers bringing soup, smoothies, etc...

I am hoping we can muster some financial support in this crisis. Cecilia's in danger and fear of seeing her Marvin Fisher award eaten up by medical bills.

The estimate she received this morning (which presumes that the nerves re-animate, which they may not—her re-implanted teeth do not currently feel hot and cold like healthy ones intensely do)... if the teeth "come back to life," the total cost will be $8500.

We have been exploring options: St Vincent de Paul works by a lottery system; the Christian Clinic requires dental patients to already be medical patients; Cecilia has left messages at the clinics of the two dental med schools.... At this point, it seems that wherever Cecilia receives treatment, it is likely to be extremely expensive. And time is of the essence to a degree—she's still on an all-liquid diet.

Please join me in making a contribution (each as we are able! everything will help, and everything will be appreciated deeply—)

Anonymous gifts are welcome; if you want to be known to Cecilia but not to everyone else, you can reach out to her directly, too.

Thank you!