Help Kelly Heal After Assault

Hi, my name is Emma Ruth and I am organizing this fundraiser on behalf of my dear friend Kelly. I am trying to raise funds to help Kelly get an incredibly important surgery that will help to heal the pain and suffering that she has endured for over twenty years.

When Kelly was 19 years old, she was brutally beaten, stabbed, and raped in Central Park, NYC on Thanksgiving day, in 1997.

This attack left Kelly hospitalized for over 6 months with a jaw broken in 4 places, multiple broken ribs, a deep stab wound to her stomach, and torn vocal chords caused by her own screams that left her unable to speak for 3 months.

Though this tragedy took so much from Kelly in her younger years, she persevered and has found love and gratitude in her life through her art, nature, and her daughter.

While Kelly has been healing from this horrible assault, the physical wounds from her attack continue to harm her to this very day.

When she was 23, her teeth began to fall out. By 24, Kelly needed to have her entire top row of teeth replaced with a denture due to the bone structure damage and deterioration of her upper jaw bone. In the last 5 years she has lost more teeth and had more bone loss in her lower jaw, causing her to suction her denture to the roof of her mouth with her tongue to keep it in place so that she can talk, eat and feel like a semi-normal person.

Now at 45, Kelly’s jawbone has been disintegrating to the point where her face is in constant pain. When she chews or eats the ill-fitting denture causes an intense stabbing pain. The pain has become unbearable and the only way she can heal from this old wound and the only option left to her is to have a Zygomatic implant procedure as soon as possible. A Zygomatic implant is a fixed prosthesis placed into the cheekbone which is used when there is insufficient bone to hold a normal dental implant. This prosthesis implant will replace what remains of Kelly's disintegrating jaw bone, and will give her real teeth so that she can live a normal life.

The largest obstacle is that it must be paid for in full before the prosthesis can be constructed and placed. Because of the word "implant" being included in the name of the surgery procedure, Oregon Health Insurance refuses to cover Kelly's surgeries and claims that these surgeries count as cosmetic procedures. These surgeries are in no way based on a foundation of vanity. With these procedures, the pain that Kelly feels will be alleviated and she will finally be able to shake off the rest of the physical wounds that the assault has left her with.

Kelly has become an incredibly special person to me. She is kind, thoughtful, quirky and wise. She is inspiring. Please join me in helping Kelly finally heal the physical pain that has followed her from a tragic assault.

Thank you to all who have donated to and shared my fundraiser. The two of us are overwhelmed with gratitude as we see donations and encouragement come in from strangers, friends, and family. These are the moments that matter. Please help if you are able, it means more than you know.