Four years ago an Australian mother woke up in agonising pain, finding her mouth clamped shut thanks to a dislocated jaw.
Nearly half a decade later, her torment continues with little hope of improvement.
Tamara Minge, from Mount Gambier in South Australia, has been in and out of hospital since 2013 and is now on her third jaw replacement which has set her back an eye-watering $50,000.
The 29-year-old was living a healthy, happy life until one day disaster struck.
Tamara Minge, from Mount Gambier in South Australia, has been in and out of hospital since 2013 and is now on her third jaw replacement which has set her back an eye-watering $50,000
The 29-year-old suddenly woke up one day in agonising pain, which later turned out to be arthritis in the jaw after dislodging. She was forced to undergo surgery
‘It pretty much happened overnight, I woke up one day and couldn’t open my mouth, physically couldn’t open it, and was in so much pain’, she told The Daily Telegraph.
She was only able to open her mouth ‘a finger-width wide’, which made eating and talking major problems.
Ms Minge’s troubles have been made all the worse by trying to raise her young daughter Ayva as tasks she once took for granted have become a serious struggle.
‘I didn’t want to read to my daughter, it sounds terrible – reading was always worse than just talking so reading to her was horrible,’ she revealed.
And despite her daughter’s brave approach, there are times it gets a little too much for the seven-year-old.
‘It upsets her when I go away for seven to 10 days,’ Ms Minge told Daily Mail Australia.
‘When I come back from surgery I try not to speak in front of her because she gets upset.’
In search of answers she turned to her dentist who referred her to a specialist.
But her troubles were far from over, and after surgery, complications arose as her body rejected the initial replacement (x-rays of her jaw pictured)
She now will undergo further procedures on the right side of her face in an attempt to finally eradicate the problem once and for all
And despite her daughter’s brave approach, there are times it gets a little too much for the seven-year-old (pictured in her mother’s arms)
And her physical ordeal is the least of her worries as her constant hospital visits have come at a considerable cost
Her excruciating pain had been diagnosed as degenerative arthritis, thanks to a disc displacement in the right side of her jaw.
She was left no choice but to have a jaw replacement.
But her troubles were far from over, and after surgery, complications arose.
Her body rejected the replacement, reacting badly to the nickel in the titanium replacement, forcing her to go under the knife once more to replace it with a pure titanium fixture.
‘The left side is now fine, pain-free, but the allergic right side is still agonising at times and affects my daily life constantly,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
She now will undergo further procedures on the right side of her face in an attempt to finally eradicate the problem once and for all.
‘The cost has been huge, one operation was $17,000. With a few more operations coming up at $10,000 the costs will exceed $50,000’, Ms Minge said
And her physical ordeal is the least of her worries as her constant hospital visits have come at a considerable cost.
‘The cost has been huge, one operation was $17,000. With a few more operations coming up at $10,000 the costs will exceed $50,000.’
‘It’s so difficult as a single mum and having to take time off work.’
One friend couldn’t sit back and watch as Ms Minge struggled to pay the bills and has taken it upon herself to raise the much-needed cash for her treatment.
Via a Go Fund Me page, Kristyn Norton is looking to raise a modest $5,000 to make ends meet and so far $2,210 has been raised.
‘As you can imagine a single mum working to support her daughter is hard enough without adding 3 replacements with no help with funding,’ she wrote online.
With donations steadily coming in and hope this latest operation will finally fix the burdening problem, there may just be some light at the end of the tunnel for Ms Minge and her daughter Ayva.
One friend couldn’t sit back and watch as Ms Minge struggled to pay the bills and has taken it upon herself to raise the much-needed cash for her treatment (several stages pictured)
With donations steadily coming in and hope this latest operation will finally fix the burdening problem, there may just be some light at the end of the tunnel for Ms Minge and her daughter Ayva