Beverly
August 25, 2005

My story began when I was sick with Scarlet Fever at the age of 6 1/2 years of age. I remember that in the midst of the sickness with the Fever, I also had a terrible pain in my right cheek, which we thought might be polio. From that time on, the front part of the cheek has been red from my eye to the jawbone. Along the jawbone it is usually black, probably because the skin is so thin which makes the blood vessels more apparent.

After I recovered from the two-month bout with the Scarlet Fever, and the measles a month later, we started visiting one doctor after another to find out about the pain and why that cheek was not growing. The doctors had all sorts of suggestions, even to eating more potatoes and gravy, but mostly I'm sure it was guesswork on their part. During those years until I was 13, I was given physical therapy, shock treatments, and hours that my mother massaged some black cream / salve into my cheek. My grandfather wanted to take me to Mayo Clinic but it was a long ways from Oregon and there was no assurance the doctors there knew any more than the ones at the University of Oregon Medical Center.

Finally the doctors at the Shriners Children's Hospital said the solution was reconstructive plastic surgery. By that time I had lost not only the baby molars but also the permanent teeth that had no roots. The roots of the wisdom tooth grew into the lower jawbone, which either had atrophied or was the size of a six year old, as there was no room. That later involved oral surgery which the dentist warned would probably break the bone. Happily, it didn't. Always I have said that the right cheek stayed at the size of a six year old while the rest of my face grew to a normal size. That wasn't exactly accurate as it did atrophy during those earlier years, but I had no other explanation.

On the inside of the right side of my mouth, there is no ridge for the teeth so the plastic surgeon attempted with a major surgery and several minor ones to form one, inserting skin from my leg around a piece of wax to form a tunnel. Several times the upper part of the tunnel was clipped but although it isn't what he expected, it was enough to be able to fit a lower dental plate. The upper plate is built up to give more fullness to the cheek. The doctor talked about cutting off much of the left side of my tongue as it had expanded to fill the space, while the right side is only a very narrow strip. He finally decided not to do that procedure so I've learned to speak and eat with a tongue that is larger than the space.

The next major surgery was to insert cartilage from my rib into the space in my cheek below my eye that had sunken.

The first time tissue was taken from my thigh to fill out the cheek but it became infected and had to be taken out as I was within hours of the infection taking my life. Back then there were no antibiotics. We waited another two years to be sure the infection was gone before the procedure was done again. That time there was no infection but slowly the transplanted tissue was absorbed back into my system so eventually it became as sunken as before.

The last plastic surgery was done in 1959, fifteen years after all the other surgeries. This time tissue was taken from my abdomen. Again it became infected so much of the tissue was lost, and through the years the rest has once again been absorbed back into the system. Since then I've had no other medical care for the cheek or my mouth. As I've grown older, I think it either has atrophied more or perhaps it has lost what little strength it had. In spite of all this and with a face that is not symmetrical, God has given me the opportunities to serve as a missionary in several countries of Latin America. Of these nearly 50 years of service, I have lived in Bolivia nearly 32 years. Besides other responsibilities, I teach at the Evangelical University here in Santa Cruz, a university I helped to found when the Bible College I had started years earlier was changed into a university to be able to offer more majors and attract more students.

I am grateful for the friends who have accepted me as I am. I always try to change the people's stares and taunts by giving them a smile that seems to disarm them. I am grateful to know about this support group that has already given me answers to some of my questions, and to know that I'm not the only one on earth who has this unique look. I could only wish that my parents and grandparents were here to know that there are others in the same condition. Thank you for your support.

Beverly

Feel free to leave a message for Beverly at rombergs@hotmail.com