Austin's next procedure for MTNI
Donation protected
This is a story about my nephew, Austin. When he was 4 months old, his parents noticed a minor growth on his lower gums. Initially dismissing it as early teething, their concern increased as the growth exponetially grew with each passing day. They took Austin to his pediatrician, who urged them to immediately go to the Children's Hospital Emergency Room in Los Angeles.
Austin was diagnosed with Hyper Melanotic Neuroectodermal tumor of infancy of the mandible. This highly aggressive tumor consumed his lower jaw at an alarming rate. A plan was immediately put together, and Austin went in for surgery.
The doctor's plan was to remove all traces of the fast moving tumor, and make an effort to save whatever jawbone they could. They were only able to successfully salvage less than 1mm of bone. To strengthen the chin, they removed a rib from Austin's right side, and performed reconstructive surgery, grafting the rib to the jaw. This procedure cost him 7 lower teeth at the front of his mouth.
After the surgery, Austin spent 5 more days in the hospital. Though he was stable, and healing well, he remained intubated for the majority of his hospital stay. When the hospital released him to send him home with his parents, they were taught how to perform the tube feed, and a home nurse was assigned to provide additional support.
He was still only a few months old.
Part of his home treatment plan involed weaning him off of morphine.
In kindergarten, his doctors outfitted him with a set of partial dentures. This experiment did not last long, as the dentures were actually increasing the rate of degredation of his reconstructed jaw. He has dealt with missing his lower teeth since.
Austin has had a number of supplemental treatments in the 10 years since the initial diagnosis, and unfortunately has many more in his future.
His particular condition was so extremely rare, only 1 other person in the world at the time had been diagnosed with it.
For all intents and purposes, Austin is a normal kid. He loves xbox, Minecraft, Nerf guns, and LEGO. His current career goal is to be an engineer. Unless you pay close attention to his mouth, you'd never know something was amiss.
In support of ever growing medical bills, Austin's parents, Megan and Travis, made the decision earlier this year to sell their house and move some place more affordable.
They had hoped to convince their insurance company to cover some portion of his currently needed procedure. After over six months battling them, they have run out of options.
The current procedure involves 5 micro dental implants, and adding a prosthesis to bridge 70% of the jaw. The implants will help stimulate bone growth to reduce the rate of degredation. At a staggering twelve thousand dollars, this procedure is beyond the fiscal means of the extended family. Especially when factoring the previous costs already being paid, and the unknown costs of future procedures.
We are sharing this story with the world in the hopes that getting this message out, we can gather enough funds for Austin's current procedure, and perhaps even get a jump start on the unknowns of the future.
Austin was diagnosed with Hyper Melanotic Neuroectodermal tumor of infancy of the mandible. This highly aggressive tumor consumed his lower jaw at an alarming rate. A plan was immediately put together, and Austin went in for surgery.
The doctor's plan was to remove all traces of the fast moving tumor, and make an effort to save whatever jawbone they could. They were only able to successfully salvage less than 1mm of bone. To strengthen the chin, they removed a rib from Austin's right side, and performed reconstructive surgery, grafting the rib to the jaw. This procedure cost him 7 lower teeth at the front of his mouth.
After the surgery, Austin spent 5 more days in the hospital. Though he was stable, and healing well, he remained intubated for the majority of his hospital stay. When the hospital released him to send him home with his parents, they were taught how to perform the tube feed, and a home nurse was assigned to provide additional support.
He was still only a few months old.
Part of his home treatment plan involed weaning him off of morphine.
In kindergarten, his doctors outfitted him with a set of partial dentures. This experiment did not last long, as the dentures were actually increasing the rate of degredation of his reconstructed jaw. He has dealt with missing his lower teeth since.
Austin has had a number of supplemental treatments in the 10 years since the initial diagnosis, and unfortunately has many more in his future.
His particular condition was so extremely rare, only 1 other person in the world at the time had been diagnosed with it.
For all intents and purposes, Austin is a normal kid. He loves xbox, Minecraft, Nerf guns, and LEGO. His current career goal is to be an engineer. Unless you pay close attention to his mouth, you'd never know something was amiss.
In support of ever growing medical bills, Austin's parents, Megan and Travis, made the decision earlier this year to sell their house and move some place more affordable.
They had hoped to convince their insurance company to cover some portion of his currently needed procedure. After over six months battling them, they have run out of options.
The current procedure involves 5 micro dental implants, and adding a prosthesis to bridge 70% of the jaw. The implants will help stimulate bone growth to reduce the rate of degredation. At a staggering twelve thousand dollars, this procedure is beyond the fiscal means of the extended family. Especially when factoring the previous costs already being paid, and the unknown costs of future procedures.
We are sharing this story with the world in the hopes that getting this message out, we can gather enough funds for Austin's current procedure, and perhaps even get a jump start on the unknowns of the future.
Organizer and beneficiary
Brett Haddock
Organizer
Santa Clarita, CA
Megan Haddock
Beneficiary
