Help Melissa with her Surgeries! Please/ Thank You
Donation protected
Hello family and friends, my name is Haydee Torres and I am the mother of Melissa Torres.
I have decided to start a GOfundMe for my daughter because she is in need of several
Plastic Surgeries, Dental and Medical work. She does have Dental and Medical Insurance, however she will still need to pay a lot of out of pocket expenses. Medical Insurance only
covers 80% and the 20% comes out of her pocket. She has to pay for her braces which is $3000, she needs implants and she has to pay 50/50 and most of the dental work will be out of pocket for her.
The surgeries she needs will be an estimate of over $20,000 to $40,000 depending on what is being repaired. We have researched and called many offices to see if there is any kind of adult state programs or any other resources to help pay her surgeries with negative results. We also called several doctors to see if they would do Pro bono and nothing worked in her favor. So now I am here pleading for help for my daughter Melissa, to see if we can help her pay for her much needed medical expenses, household bills when she is out of work, dental expenses and travel expenses since all the surgeries will be in Philadelphia.
Melissa Story…….Warning it is a little long.....
I know most of you follow Melissa Torres my daughter on Facebook Live.
She is very opened about her story and the long journey that she is about to face.
Melissa was born with a Bilateral cleft palate a birth defect condition that affects the ears, nose, palate, gums and teeth.
She had her first surgery when she was 3 months old to repair her lips so she would be able to drink her milk and eat as well. Then at age 1 and half she had her second surgery which was to close her palate. She then continued to have several surgeries throughout her life. They had to take bone from both of her hips to perform a bone graft to fix her gum area, that was broken in two places on the top upper teeth. Her surgeries were from 4-6 hours long. Imagine how we felt as her parents to wait that long and we could just only pray that we would see our beautiful daughter again.
As the years went on she grew up healthy and strong. We taught her that she was never different but more unique because of how she was born. I never questioned God as to why she was born that way cause I knew she was given to us for a reason. Melissa had between 7-9 surgeries by the time she was 18 years old.
She was always a fighter from day one. Melissa was teased a lot in school and her brother Alex always protected her and even fought some kids so they would stop teasing her. Life for her was never easy but she was a happy kid. She was in many sports that helped her build her self esteem and become a stronger person. She played softball, she was a cheerleader, basketball player and did gymnastics. In High School she joined the ROTC and she was the Commander of the Unit. That really help to build her leadership skills. She taught her cadets so many great drills and they would win first place in the school events. She loved being a leader and being in control of the team. Her goal was to serve in the Air Force when she graduated from HS. Unfortunately, that came to an end when she got into a car accident in 2004 when we relocated to Florida. We almost lost our Melissa on our first Christmas in Florida from that accident, which caused her to have 2 herniated disk.
She then later met a guy and had 3 wonderful children. Melissa is now a single Mother and doing everything on her own. She is a "One Man Show" like she always says in her Live Videos. She also does a lot of volunteer work for our community. Her heart is so giving to others and she never ask for anything in return.
For the past 3 years my daughter Melissa and I have been looking for doctors to perform the surgeries that she is needing . Her health is deteriorating and I am very concerned because she is losing most of her teeth. She has a hole in her palate, one of her nostrils is almost closed, one of her eardrums needs repair, she can hardly hear and we just found out that she will need a bone graft on one side of her upper gum. She also now needs braces on the bottom of her teeth.
We got a hold of the Plastic Surgeon that did all her surgeries since she was 3 months old
(Dr. Adrian Lo) unfortunately, he no longer is practicing Bilateral Cleft Palate. The office did recommended us to another great Plastic Surgeon named Dr. Swanson which has his practice in University of Penn in Philadelphia Pa. our hometown.
We pray that with your generosity she will be able to continue her health journey and be able to eat normal like everyone else. She will be doing a documentary of her progress, so everyone can see how she is doing during the procedures.
I want to thank you all in advance for all your thoughts and prayers for my beautiful daughter Melissa. If there is anything that you can do to contribute to help her be able to live a normal life without pain, it would be very much appreciated and means so much to all of us....
She is my baby girl and all I want is for her to be happy and healthy so she can live a great life.
Sincerely,
Haydee Torres
Concerned Mom
I have decided to start a GOfundMe for my daughter because she is in need of several
Plastic Surgeries, Dental and Medical work. She does have Dental and Medical Insurance, however she will still need to pay a lot of out of pocket expenses. Medical Insurance only
covers 80% and the 20% comes out of her pocket. She has to pay for her braces which is $3000, she needs implants and she has to pay 50/50 and most of the dental work will be out of pocket for her.
The surgeries she needs will be an estimate of over $20,000 to $40,000 depending on what is being repaired. We have researched and called many offices to see if there is any kind of adult state programs or any other resources to help pay her surgeries with negative results. We also called several doctors to see if they would do Pro bono and nothing worked in her favor. So now I am here pleading for help for my daughter Melissa, to see if we can help her pay for her much needed medical expenses, household bills when she is out of work, dental expenses and travel expenses since all the surgeries will be in Philadelphia.
Melissa Story…….Warning it is a little long.....
I know most of you follow Melissa Torres my daughter on Facebook Live.
She is very opened about her story and the long journey that she is about to face.
Melissa was born with a Bilateral cleft palate a birth defect condition that affects the ears, nose, palate, gums and teeth.
She had her first surgery when she was 3 months old to repair her lips so she would be able to drink her milk and eat as well. Then at age 1 and half she had her second surgery which was to close her palate. She then continued to have several surgeries throughout her life. They had to take bone from both of her hips to perform a bone graft to fix her gum area, that was broken in two places on the top upper teeth. Her surgeries were from 4-6 hours long. Imagine how we felt as her parents to wait that long and we could just only pray that we would see our beautiful daughter again.
As the years went on she grew up healthy and strong. We taught her that she was never different but more unique because of how she was born. I never questioned God as to why she was born that way cause I knew she was given to us for a reason. Melissa had between 7-9 surgeries by the time she was 18 years old.
She was always a fighter from day one. Melissa was teased a lot in school and her brother Alex always protected her and even fought some kids so they would stop teasing her. Life for her was never easy but she was a happy kid. She was in many sports that helped her build her self esteem and become a stronger person. She played softball, she was a cheerleader, basketball player and did gymnastics. In High School she joined the ROTC and she was the Commander of the Unit. That really help to build her leadership skills. She taught her cadets so many great drills and they would win first place in the school events. She loved being a leader and being in control of the team. Her goal was to serve in the Air Force when she graduated from HS. Unfortunately, that came to an end when she got into a car accident in 2004 when we relocated to Florida. We almost lost our Melissa on our first Christmas in Florida from that accident, which caused her to have 2 herniated disk.
She then later met a guy and had 3 wonderful children. Melissa is now a single Mother and doing everything on her own. She is a "One Man Show" like she always says in her Live Videos. She also does a lot of volunteer work for our community. Her heart is so giving to others and she never ask for anything in return.
For the past 3 years my daughter Melissa and I have been looking for doctors to perform the surgeries that she is needing . Her health is deteriorating and I am very concerned because she is losing most of her teeth. She has a hole in her palate, one of her nostrils is almost closed, one of her eardrums needs repair, she can hardly hear and we just found out that she will need a bone graft on one side of her upper gum. She also now needs braces on the bottom of her teeth.
We got a hold of the Plastic Surgeon that did all her surgeries since she was 3 months old
(Dr. Adrian Lo) unfortunately, he no longer is practicing Bilateral Cleft Palate. The office did recommended us to another great Plastic Surgeon named Dr. Swanson which has his practice in University of Penn in Philadelphia Pa. our hometown.
We pray that with your generosity she will be able to continue her health journey and be able to eat normal like everyone else. She will be doing a documentary of her progress, so everyone can see how she is doing during the procedures.
I want to thank you all in advance for all your thoughts and prayers for my beautiful daughter Melissa. If there is anything that you can do to contribute to help her be able to live a normal life without pain, it would be very much appreciated and means so much to all of us....
She is my baby girl and all I want is for her to be happy and healthy so she can live a great life.
Sincerely,
Haydee Torres
Concerned Mom
Organizer and beneficiary
Haydee Torres
Organizer
Kissimmee, FL
Melissa Torres
Beneficiary