Help Kim Webster with critical dental expenses
Donation protected
Kim Webster, our neighbor and friend, is facing a $14,000 dental bill due to prior surgeries which have made it difficult to work since 2003. She has only a small, surviving spouse military pension to live on and no dental insurance. Without the surgery, Kim would lose her ability to eat. Please consider a contribution to help her with dental expenses.
In 2003 Kim Webster was diagnosed with amelobastoma, a rare kind of tumor that starts in your jaw. She was sent to a maxillofacial surgeon who removed three teeth and half her jaw. The tumor was benign.
Ten years later the tumor recurred, and this time she went to an otolaryngologist oncologist for emergency surgery. Three surgeries later, each lasting at least 13 hours, and a month's stay away from home, she returned to her home with a reconstructed jaw, a tongue that was artificially connected to the floor of her mouth, a titanium ladder in her arm where bone was grafted, grafts from her leg bone and skin and titanium in her jaw.
She was on a liquid diet for the next year and a half, and speech was difficult, making it impossible to work. She didn't qualify for disability, has trouble with balance, and still isn't old enough for medicare.
Kim's husband died in 1999, leaving her with an 8-year-old daughter that required homeschooling. Kim has a degree from Kansas State in landscape architecture, but part-time jobs were not available without a long commute. Her health issues began just as her daughter was starting college. When she was able to start work again, speech and balance were still an issue, and due to the bone grafts from her arm and leg, she had little strength, even for office work.
She moved back home to Wichita, Kansas, to be close to family, and moved to Country Lake Condominiums, where she immediately gained a family of friends who she loves and supports. Now they want to return the favor of her cheerful spirit.
The recent need for dental work became apparent at a dental visit where they discovered that the bone and teeth were deteriorating from the pressure of being able only to chew on one side of her mouth.
Kim says, "This has been absolutely the worst and yet most wonderful experience of my life." Although the jaw surgery has changed her appearance and ability to do some of the normal things in life, she has learned to look beyond herself to others. Her time in rehab exposed her to people who would never recover from paralysis and other heart-breaking health issues. She learned to appreciate the life she had and to be grateful for what she could do.
Neighbors have also become very special. Neighbors attended to her after her surgeries when she had no one at home to help. Now those of us who are privileged to be her neighbors see that she is giving back!
In 2003 Kim Webster was diagnosed with amelobastoma, a rare kind of tumor that starts in your jaw. She was sent to a maxillofacial surgeon who removed three teeth and half her jaw. The tumor was benign.
Ten years later the tumor recurred, and this time she went to an otolaryngologist oncologist for emergency surgery. Three surgeries later, each lasting at least 13 hours, and a month's stay away from home, she returned to her home with a reconstructed jaw, a tongue that was artificially connected to the floor of her mouth, a titanium ladder in her arm where bone was grafted, grafts from her leg bone and skin and titanium in her jaw.
She was on a liquid diet for the next year and a half, and speech was difficult, making it impossible to work. She didn't qualify for disability, has trouble with balance, and still isn't old enough for medicare.
Kim's husband died in 1999, leaving her with an 8-year-old daughter that required homeschooling. Kim has a degree from Kansas State in landscape architecture, but part-time jobs were not available without a long commute. Her health issues began just as her daughter was starting college. When she was able to start work again, speech and balance were still an issue, and due to the bone grafts from her arm and leg, she had little strength, even for office work.
She moved back home to Wichita, Kansas, to be close to family, and moved to Country Lake Condominiums, where she immediately gained a family of friends who she loves and supports. Now they want to return the favor of her cheerful spirit.
The recent need for dental work became apparent at a dental visit where they discovered that the bone and teeth were deteriorating from the pressure of being able only to chew on one side of her mouth.
Kim says, "This has been absolutely the worst and yet most wonderful experience of my life." Although the jaw surgery has changed her appearance and ability to do some of the normal things in life, she has learned to look beyond herself to others. Her time in rehab exposed her to people who would never recover from paralysis and other heart-breaking health issues. She learned to appreciate the life she had and to be grateful for what she could do.
Neighbors have also become very special. Neighbors attended to her after her surgeries when she had no one at home to help. Now those of us who are privileged to be her neighbors see that she is giving back!
Fundraising team: Friends from Country Lake (2)
Kathy Wiebe
Organizer
Wichita, KS
Kimberly Webster
Beneficiary
Christy Roberts
Team member