The last piece of the puzzle
by KATELYN MOORE

KERSEY

Thirty-two-year-old Accounting major Melany Kersey has always been one to take care of everyone else. Born with an iron deficiency, she had to have two iron shots each day when she was born to get her iron levels to where they should be. Doctors warned of side effects to putting that much iron into her child self, and the way those side effects manifested was through her teeth.

Kersey suffered her first

tooth abscess, or infection, at age 3. Throughout her childhood and into adulthood, she suffered from abscesses no matter how well she took care of her teeth.

"They would appear almost overnight," she said, stating that her teeth would rapidly rot from the inside out, causing her grievous pain. She went to dentists until they would no longer see her, and they were only able to offer temporary relief. It got so bad that she would have panic attacks when she went to the dentist's office, but it began to worsen in the last four years.

She began to get abscesses 1-2 months behind the other, culminating in a time when she had 6 abscesses at once during last term. Not only was the pain unbearable, she says, but the amount of poison from the infections was dangerous and had the potential to become cancerous and affect her vision, hearing, and brain. The only way to cure her was through oral surgery to remove all of her teeth--surgery that was outside of the full-time student, single mother of two's budget.

Karen Mountain, the Department Chairperson for the Business Division and one of Kersey's instructors, said that Melany came to her one morning and said that she needed to leave at 9 a.m. to go to the doctor because she had an abscessed tooth. She noticed that Melany was swollen, not only in her face but throughout her entire body.

"I told Melany that I had noticed the problem with her teeth and planned to talk with her and this was the perfect opportunity. I then asked Melany what she planned to do about the situation. Melany said that she had been trying but she did not have the funds required that it would cost her to have the surgery.

"I suggested Medical College of Georgia," she explains, saying that Kersey had contacted them about six months ago and was told that they couldn't help her- which was a miscommunication.

"I noticed she was in pain and I talked to her to find out the situation," says Linda Whitfield, another one of Kersey's business technology instructors. "She would come in and her face would be so swollen that her glasses bruised her."

Whitfield called the individual in charge of oral surgery at MCG and was able to secure a near-immediate appointment for Kersey and work with her to budget the costs. She was able to borrow her books from other students and the Lending Library that were needed for this term. Using money from her Pell grant, family, and help from her fiancé's employer, she was able to pay the requisite cost to have the surgery that was due before she went in. Melany still has to pay the remaining balance that is due from her surgery within 90 days.

"I don't mind helping someone who'll help herself," Whitfield says. "Melany is a wonderful and dedicated student who goes beyond expectations."

Lori Sweat, another one of Kersey's accounting instructors, says that Kersey is "what you wish you had in a student. She goes above and beyond what's required, is always here [in class] and prepared and even usually ahead."

"She wants to know everything there is to know about a subject," she continues. "She's a model student, and this surgery was the missing piece to the puzzle."

Kersey was able to schedule her evaluation appointment for the day after the quarter ended and had surgery to remove 23 teeth on April 1st. She was unable to attend classes for the first three days of the new quarter, but was able to get her books and be caught up with her assignments when she was able to return.

"I was on pain medication for three days after the surgery," Kersey says, but now I am virtually painfree. For someone who has been on and off pain medication due to her teeth for a long time, it is a new experience for her.

Kersey is a single mom of two girls, ages 2 and 11, and a 17-year-old nephew that also lives with her. "I'm used to taking care of everyone else," she says. "I've never had someone reach out to me like the instructors here."

"She's a perfect example of seeing it all come together," says Lori Sweat. "She now has the self-esteem and self-confidence to succeed."

"Melany is truly grateful for the help we have given her. I see it in her eyes and feel it in her presence when she stops by to see me. Some people take advantage of people's goodness," says Karen Mountain, "but we know we've done the right thing by helping her and that she'll be a great success!"

After her surgery, Kersey wrote a thank you note to all that were involved in helping her through her ordeal.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who was and is involved with helping me to have the dental surgery that I have needed for so long. You will never know what it means to me to have people support me like the faculty and staff at Swainsboro Technical College. I have people that are walking up to me, that I never thought even knew me and asking me how the surgery went. To someone like me--that means a lot.

I would like to say a very special thank you to two very special people, and that is Mrs. Linda Whitfield and Mrs. Karen Mountain. They got the ball rolling for me to have my surgery. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish that I could put into words how the two of them made me feel to know that there are still people out there that do care and want to help. You have restored my belief in the human race once again.

I have not had my confidence or self-esteem for a long time because of the way I was hurting and the way that I thought people were looking at me. I now feel them coming back to me and it is because of the surgery. I feel better about myself and I know that when I graduate and get into the work force that I will make the staff at Swainsboro Technical College proud of me. I know this because there is nothing that will be able to stop me from succeeding.

If there is anything that I could ever do to help with anything that anyone needs, please do not hesitate to let me know. And again thank you to everyone.
Sincerely,
Melany Kersey

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