Save Mike's Smile, Save His Life

Mike will have surgery to remove all his teeth and clean out a dangerous infection that has caused him so much pain this Friday, October 28th. Once his mouth has healed completely, he will get fitted for a complete set of dentures allowing him to improve his quality of life, secure long-term employment and serve his local church.

Many of you may know Mike from the past or have met him as he has served at the Salisbury Refuge Campus.

We have known Mike for over 25 years. He's been a dear friend and fellow musician.

Over several years, we lost touch with him and often wondered how he was doing.

In 2019 we found him living in CO, homeless, trying to stay clean from years of drug use and suicidal.

He started joining online prayer meetings with us and rededicated his life to the Lord.

The Lord laid it on our hearts to fly him here to NC to get a new start. Right after he arrived, Covid hit. The job and living arrangements we had set up for him were no longer available because of the pandemic.

He moved in with us and became part of our family. He was always fixing or painting something and never ceased to express his gratitude for his new start.

Eventually, he was able to find employment. He is now certified to work in nursing homes doing building maintenance. He has been able to buy a car, pay off old debts, keep a job and live independently. We are so incredibly proud of his progress.

During the pandemic, Mike was an integral part of our online services. He turned our bonus room into a studio and mixed the audio for the multiple videos we created. He has continued faithfully serving on our church's worship and audio teams.

However, his health has started to decline due to an issue with his teeth.

One of the unfortunate side effects of his years of drug abuse is that his teeth started falling out. While he lived with us it wouldn't be unusual for him to lose one now and then.

As time has passed, this has created an immediate health crisis. He has multiple infections and has made many trips to the ER for severe pain, fatigue and other side effects.

If this issue is not resolved soon, the infection could enter his bloodstream and be life-threatening.

Because of the physical challenges, it has been harder and harder for him to maintain employment and enjoy life.

The cost of the surgery and dentures that he needs is very high. We were shocked at the price that the surgery and dentures would cost, but he is worth it, and we would do this for any of our family members if they needed it. We believe that God has a bright future and calling on his life, and we are excited to be a part of facilitating that future.

We were fortunate to find a dentist and surgeon who could get him in faster than we thought possible. However, this has made our need to raise funds more urgent than anticipated.

Mike will have surgery to remove all his teeth and clean out the infection that caused him so much pain this Friday, October 28th. This is a big deal to him and the only way to save his life.

Once his mouth has healed completely, he will get fitted for a complete set of dentures allowing him to improve his quality of life, secure long-term employment and serve his local church.

We believe that the Lord is going to provide the funds needed and we are grateful that we get to be a part of his journey.

Will you pray about helping us with the cost of the surgery and the dentures? This is more than we can personally afford but we are moving forward because time if of the essence and his life is precious to us.

Thank you for anything you can do to improve the life of another. I know the Lord will reward you more than any thank you we could give.

Truly Grateful,

Craig and Angela Malz