LEBANON, Pa. (WHTM) – The announcement was made at the Balaci Oral and Facial Surgery office about six weeks ago.
“I would like to announce our first candidate recipient for the Second Chance program, and it is going to be Cindy Betz,” said Dr. Alexandre Balaci, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.
Betz rushed over to the doctor and hugged him as people in the room applauded.
‘It is still unbelievable,” Betz said.
Betz was one of 37 people who applied online for the Second Chance program that provides free oral surgery for those in need.
When she was 23 years old, Betz was in a motorcycle accident. She was hit head-on by a truck and was in a coma for three weeks. When she woke up, she found she had lost almost all of her teeth in the crash.
She has been living in pain for over 35 years.
“I would say to my husband, ‘How can you be with somebody who is so ugly? I am ugly.’ I was low and so depressed,” she said.
Betz, now 59, is just six weeks into her transformation. Her remaining teeth were pulled, and bone grafts were put into her jaw. The next step is new teeth.
“I just want to see how she changes and how her personality changes, and if she becomes more outgoing and willing to do different things, and maybe get a different job,” Balaci said. “That is what I am hoping, just to really change her life.”
The Pine Grove woman will get her new teeth in a few months. The total cost for all of her procedures would run about $40,000. Betz will get it for free.
“I am so excited to see what this is going to be like. It is a big, huge gift,” Betz said.
Balaci plans on doing the Second Chance program again next year.
Published Friday, November 2o, 2015 by Kendra Nichols on abc27 News.
