We have created this campaign on behalf of Liliana Chavez, our beloved second daughter, a sister of ten, a treasured niece, and loyal friend. We are sharing her story with her consent.
Liliana is a 23-year-old woman who has a heart of gold, everyone who meets her feels an instant connection to her. Most importantly, she is a human being who has dealt with pain and discomfort from dental issues for far too long on the basis of being disabled. We are fighting for Lili's right to adequate, humane care. We are asking for help because we believe that Lili has the same right to be treated with dignity that everyone else does, and that her quality of life is paramount, irrespective of disability. We are seeking to connect with someone who will do quality dental work for Liliana and it has become increasingly apparent to us that in order to protect her teeth, we will need to pay for it privately. We have been saving as much as we can, but specialty dental care is prohibitively expensive and we are calling on anyone willing or able to contribute to this cause.
Early in her life, Liliana suffered brain damage after a medical procedure, leaving her with around-the-clock support needs and almost totally unable to speak. She communicates with her family, friends, and caregivers primarily by gesturing and nodding. After her injury she experienced failure to thrive, digestive problems, altered behavior, and sleeping disorders. She also developed acute asthma and respiratory infections resulting in hospitalizations for pneumonia more times than we can count. Her prescribed asthma medications had the unintended side-effect of weakening and damaging her previously strong and healthy teeth. Liliana was traumatized by her repeated hospitalizations and frightening medical experiences, and because of her trauma it became increasingly difficult to care for her teeth. She struggled to open her mouth, even to allow her very gentle dentist to perform a checkup, and she has needed the aid of sedation in order to access dental care, which is a common need for disabled individuals but is difficult to get approval from insurance for. There are few clinics with the capability or willingness to do this, and by the time Lili was 13, she no longer had access to that accommodation through her dental office.
Thankfully as she grew older she was able to allow and participate in at-home tooth care, but it was not enough to mitigate the effects of the earlier medication-induced damage and over the years she has developed cavities. We have spent years trying to secure restorative dental work for her, and it has been a process filled with trials and tribulations and heartbreaking dead ends. We have tried to make the best of the care that she has had access to. We consulted with dentists from different clinics who made promises of restoration but whose work was glaringly shoddy and only caused further harm.
Most recently, Liliana spent 8 months on the waiting list of a needs-based program only for her family to be informed while Lili was under anesthesia that none of the repair work agreed upon during consultation would be performed and that the only available option was to remove ALL of her teeth. The justification was that the dental work might fail years down the line, but that is a risk any person undertakes when they get a filling or root canal and most non-disabled people do not have both arches of teeth extracted prophylactically on a whim. That outcome was not discussed prior to her surgery, and we could not in good conscience make that decision for Lili while she was asleep. We feel that is far too drastic a measure, unwarranted given the condition of her teeth, and we believe that it is being insisted upon because of what her insurance and/or discriminatory medical bias dictates rather than what is truly necessary or ethical.
Liliana has feelings, understanding, and the capability for self-determination that, wrongly, go unrecognized by many and we believe that if she could speak this would not be happening to her. She does not consent to having all of her teeth removed. She has however, indicated her consent numerous times to having her teeth repaired, so as her advocates that is what we are pursuing. We are grateful for any help that we can muster here. No donation is too small, anything and everything helps, even if it's just sharing Liliana's story.
Thank you so much!
Liliana is a 23-year-old woman who has a heart of gold, everyone who meets her feels an instant connection to her. Most importantly, she is a human being who has dealt with pain and discomfort from dental issues for far too long on the basis of being disabled. We are fighting for Lili's right to adequate, humane care. We are asking for help because we believe that Lili has the same right to be treated with dignity that everyone else does, and that her quality of life is paramount, irrespective of disability. We are seeking to connect with someone who will do quality dental work for Liliana and it has become increasingly apparent to us that in order to protect her teeth, we will need to pay for it privately. We have been saving as much as we can, but specialty dental care is prohibitively expensive and we are calling on anyone willing or able to contribute to this cause.
Early in her life, Liliana suffered brain damage after a medical procedure, leaving her with around-the-clock support needs and almost totally unable to speak. She communicates with her family, friends, and caregivers primarily by gesturing and nodding. After her injury she experienced failure to thrive, digestive problems, altered behavior, and sleeping disorders. She also developed acute asthma and respiratory infections resulting in hospitalizations for pneumonia more times than we can count. Her prescribed asthma medications had the unintended side-effect of weakening and damaging her previously strong and healthy teeth. Liliana was traumatized by her repeated hospitalizations and frightening medical experiences, and because of her trauma it became increasingly difficult to care for her teeth. She struggled to open her mouth, even to allow her very gentle dentist to perform a checkup, and she has needed the aid of sedation in order to access dental care, which is a common need for disabled individuals but is difficult to get approval from insurance for. There are few clinics with the capability or willingness to do this, and by the time Lili was 13, she no longer had access to that accommodation through her dental office.
Thankfully as she grew older she was able to allow and participate in at-home tooth care, but it was not enough to mitigate the effects of the earlier medication-induced damage and over the years she has developed cavities. We have spent years trying to secure restorative dental work for her, and it has been a process filled with trials and tribulations and heartbreaking dead ends. We have tried to make the best of the care that she has had access to. We consulted with dentists from different clinics who made promises of restoration but whose work was glaringly shoddy and only caused further harm.
Most recently, Liliana spent 8 months on the waiting list of a needs-based program only for her family to be informed while Lili was under anesthesia that none of the repair work agreed upon during consultation would be performed and that the only available option was to remove ALL of her teeth. The justification was that the dental work might fail years down the line, but that is a risk any person undertakes when they get a filling or root canal and most non-disabled people do not have both arches of teeth extracted prophylactically on a whim. That outcome was not discussed prior to her surgery, and we could not in good conscience make that decision for Lili while she was asleep. We feel that is far too drastic a measure, unwarranted given the condition of her teeth, and we believe that it is being insisted upon because of what her insurance and/or discriminatory medical bias dictates rather than what is truly necessary or ethical.
Liliana has feelings, understanding, and the capability for self-determination that, wrongly, go unrecognized by many and we believe that if she could speak this would not be happening to her. She does not consent to having all of her teeth removed. She has however, indicated her consent numerous times to having her teeth repaired, so as her advocates that is what we are pursuing. We are grateful for any help that we can muster here. No donation is too small, anything and everything helps, even if it's just sharing Liliana's story.
Thank you so much!
Organizer and beneficiary
Liliana Chavez
Beneficiary