I'm here to ask for help. But first . . .

On July 4, 2021, I went out for a run. My partner and I had plans to run errands together all day, and Grandma was coming over to babysit. I said I'll be back soon, as my run was pretty short. I started running regularly 5 or 6 years ago, and running a mile was easy peasy.

I got about a block and half away, tripped on the edge of the curb and face-planted into the street. As a kid, I fell off my bike and messed up my front teeth pretty badly—root canal, crown, a veneer, the whole bit. Over time, that dental work started to wear out, and in 2019 (with proper dental insurance), I had my front teeth fixed and repaired. My teeth looked great. My fall on July 4th, 2021, not only ruined all of that work but actually made my teeth monumentally worse.

I spent the entire day in the emergency room and had multiple stitches in my upper lip, which healed well . . . luckily. My two front teeth were pushed backward, needed a root canal on another tooth, the new crowns (barely two years old) were ruined and had to be ground down in the back so I could shut my mouth correctly. It was one of the worst days of my life. A few weeks later, to add insult to injury, my job decided to eliminate my position, and I was laid off. So in my time of need, I was going to lose my insurance and income. I saw as many people as I could in the time I had left; my dentist, an oral surgeon, and an orthodontist. The outlook was not great.

This brings us to now. I held off for a year, hoping that my job prospects would improve and I'd have insurance. They didn't, and I don't, but I can't wait any longer, and the work required to fix my teeth is thousands and thousands of dollars and will take multiple years. The first step is I need to get braces, which is what this GoFundMe is for, and the estimate is around $5–6,000. Unfortunately, I don't have five grand in my pocket, and I hope you all can help me.

I have to wear them for one- to one-and-a-half years, after which I have to get one of my front teeth extracted, a bone graft, and either an implant or a bridge. Even if I had dental insurance, it wouldn't cover braces in any capacity, including accidents or emergency situations—hurray for our awful for-profit healthcare system. My hope is that by the time the braces come off, I'll have insurance again to help deal with the rest of the work that needs to be done.

So I need help to fix my teeth, and I'm asking for help. If you can donate anything, anything at all, I would greatly appreciate it. I have the appointment to get the braces scheduled, and I'm going through with it regardless. Still, if the folks in my community (be it from punk, design, comics, friends & family, and those I don't know) could help, it would lessen the burden my family and I are currently carrying.

Thank you all for reading this and for your support; it honestly means the world.

In solidarity,

— John Twentyfive