Mark your calendars for the Kourageous Kaci Silent Auction. Come enjoy hors d’oeuvre and bid on items such as Buck’s floor seat tickets, dinners to local restaurants, dinners in, spa services, zoo passes, YMCA passes, landscaping, etc. All proceeds go directly to the Kourageous Kaci fundraiser, which is raising money for a local woman, Kaci Clemons, who has a rare bone infection and needs extensive jaw surgery.

The background of Kourageous Kaci Silent Auction:

Imagine going into your annual dental appointment, oblivious to anything wrong, and leaving with the news of a lesion settled within the jaw that would start slowly unraveling every aspect of your life. This is what happened to my sweet kind-hearted friend Kaci at her September 2022 dentist appointment. Healthy, strong, young (32-years-old), wife, and Mother to an amazing 4-year-old, Judd, she left that simple routine appointment completely unaware of how life altering that moment was and continues to be.

Fast forward to today, Kaci has since lost 9 teeth while battling chronic osteomyelitis and necrosis of the jaw. Despite having a PICC line administering daily antibiotics for 8 months, Kaci became antibiotic resistant and the osteo and pain remained. It has been a grueling, painful journey.

While her health deteriorated and she struggled to stay true to her optimistic and faith-filled self amid excruciating pain, she maintained her role as wife, Mom, daughter, and friend with a smile on her face despite multiple trips a day for fleeting pain relief, inability to eat (at one point, reaching 114 pounds on her 5’10 frame) and inability to sleep due to relentless pain.

During this trying time, in March of 2023, she attempted to take a step of faith and have a rhizotomy and excision of left mandibular nerve. This was done with the hope and expectation of less if not close to all pain relief, as the nerve would be removed. Little did she know at that point that the surgery was not successful and would in fact leave her with a hypoglossal injury, as well as centralized peripheral nerve damage. Essentially meaning permanent tongue and lip damage. Trading one unbearable pain for another.

In the midst of it all, Kaci went through a divorce, but held hope and tried to move forward the best she could with her son.

While preparing to begin restoration (implants), a scan in November showed the osteomyelitis was back with a vengeance and impacting more of her jawbone than previously. Her only option now is a very extensive and expensive mandibulectomy by one of the few specialists in the nation at UW Seattle, who has only seen this 10 times in his 25 years. In the over 12-hour surgery that requires a 3 week stay, he will remove her dead jawbone and take from her fibula to create a new jaw, alongside a permanent plate. She will go through physical therapy and multiple reconstructive surgeries and then will begin restorative work on her teeth by fall. A very minimal and conservative estimate on the cost of the procedures and restorative alone is upwards of $400,000 but will likely be much more when all is said and done (not including the additional expenses of flights, hotel stays, etc.). Surviving on state insurance because she is not able to work due to pain, nothing is covered because it is being done out of the state of Wisconsin. Meaning this will all be her responsibility.

I urge you to consider donating to help Kaci get a new jaw and rid her of the oral osteomyelitis, and the nonstop pain that comes with it, once and for all. Time is of the essence as they want her to fly to Seattle from Wisconsin ASAP for surgery at the end of February, early March. What I’ve witnessed from this strong and courageous woman these past 18 months in terms of her motivation to conquer this terrible disease and the love and passion she has in protecting her son from seeing her pain is remarkable. She is a fighter! I am in awe of her steadfast faith and can-do (WILL DO) attitude during this difficult journey.

Any amount makes a difference and would be received by the most grateful of hearts! THANK YOU!