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Injured barrel racer on road to recovery with new jaw implant
  
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By TANA ROSS
Ashleigh Lewis has been on the road to recovery for five months now and getting back to normal has been a challenge, but with the aid of a cadaver bone she is one step closer.
Lewis was in an automobile accident in Bastrop, Texas in May. She was thrown 60 feet from the truck she was driving home from her best friend’s wedding and the fall crushed her face, fractured her skull and broke bones throughout her body.
After five hours of reconstructive surgery, the 19-year-old woke up in Brackenridge Hospital in Austin with not only a will to live, but determination to get home as soon as possible. She wanted to return to her family, friends and her beloved horses.
Since the age of nine, Lewis has competed in barrel racing events almost every weekend.
These days Lewis’ horses offer the 2006 Magnolia High School graduate an anchor to begin her life again. Mounted she walked her horse, Streaker, for the first time since the wreck just last week — a great improvement from her accomplishment of sitting in a chair for five minutes in June. Lewis believes she will be riding again in less than a year despite two healing vertebrae that were fractured in the wreck.
During her senior year, The Potpourri sponsored Lewis for the Miss Magnolia pageant. And it is a fair question to ask, what it is like for a former pageant contestant to undergo such extensive facial surgery? Lewis said she is grateful to have a chance to heal her crushed jaw.
“My jaw was completely crushed and I didn’t have a bone. I lost six or seven teeth,” she said. “Hopefully this will take, and in five months I can look forward to implants to replace the teeth.”
Dr. Todd Eggleston DDS, an oral and facial surgery specialist in Austin, has been treating Lewis since she arrived at Brackenridge Trauma Center the night of the accident. Eggleston said cadaver implants are common, successful and have been used for 25 years.
“This is a minimally invasive procedure. I have had good success with it and it allows for the dental implants needed,” he said.
Eggleston explained that cadaver in many cases means small treated particles with all the organic material removed. The end result is a phosphate- and calcium-based powder, much like grains of salt, which are placed in the void area and allowed to heal.
“It takes four to six months for the bone to incorporate the new bone particles and mend,” he said.
After the jaw mends, Lewis will have metal dental implants placed in her new jaw to accommodate replacement teeth. Eggleston said the average cost for the procedures, from the jaw implant to the dental/teeth implants, is about $15,000. The Lewises have no dental insurance and recently lost two of their eight fishing boats that supply the family’s income to Hurricane Ike.
Lewis’ parents, Mark and Rhonda, estimate there has been more than $100,000 in uninsured costs related to their daughter’s recovery. With this in mind, friends have organized a local benefit on Friday, Oct. 17 and Saturday, Oct. 18.
The benefit will include a barbecue cook-off, horseshoe pitching contest, auction, and dance with a live band and will take place at the Magnolia Horse Arena, 31245 Friendship Ln. For cook-off information call Scott Knee at 936-672-3922; for information concerning the other events, call Phyllis Clay at 281-259-8175. Barbecue plates on Saturday, Oct. 17, will be available beginning at 11:30 a.m. The auction will begin at 5:30 p.m. followed by the dance at 7:30 p.m. Admission to the dance is $10 per person.
Ashleigh Lewis Benefit
What: Barbecue, auction and dance.
When: Saturday, Oct. 18, serving begins at 11:30 a.m.; live music begins at 7 p.m.
Where: The Magnolia Horse Arena at 31245 Friendship Lane.
Cost: $10 for barbecue plates, $5 for sandwiches and $10 per person for the dance.
Call 281-259-8175 for more information.
Lewis was in an automobile accident in Bastrop, Texas in May. She was thrown 60 feet from the truck she was driving home from her best friend’s wedding and the fall crushed her face, fractured her skull and broke bones throughout her body.
After five hours of reconstructive surgery, the 19-year-old woke up in Brackenridge Hospital in Austin with not only a will to live, but determination to get home as soon as possible. She wanted to return to her family, friends and her beloved horses.
Since the age of nine, Lewis has competed in barrel racing events almost every weekend.
These days Lewis’ horses offer the 2006 Magnolia High School graduate an anchor to begin her life again. Mounted she walked her horse, Streaker, for the first time since the wreck just last week — a great improvement from her accomplishment of sitting in a chair for five minutes in June. Lewis believes she will be riding again in less than a year despite two healing vertebrae that were fractured in the wreck.
During her senior year, The Potpourri sponsored Lewis for the Miss Magnolia pageant. And it is a fair question to ask, what it is like for a former pageant contestant to undergo such extensive facial surgery? Lewis said she is grateful to have a chance to heal her crushed jaw.
“My jaw was completely crushed and I didn’t have a bone. I lost six or seven teeth,” she said. “Hopefully this will take, and in five months I can look forward to implants to replace the teeth.”
Dr. Todd Eggleston DDS, an oral and facial surgery specialist in Austin, has been treating Lewis since she arrived at Brackenridge Trauma Center the night of the accident. Eggleston said cadaver implants are common, successful and have been used for 25 years.
“This is a minimally invasive procedure. I have had good success with it and it allows for the dental implants needed,” he said.
Eggleston explained that cadaver in many cases means small treated particles with all the organic material removed. The end result is a phosphate- and calcium-based powder, much like grains of salt, which are placed in the void area and allowed to heal.
“It takes four to six months for the bone to incorporate the new bone particles and mend,” he said.
After the jaw mends, Lewis will have metal dental implants placed in her new jaw to accommodate replacement teeth. Eggleston said the average cost for the procedures, from the jaw implant to the dental/teeth implants, is about $15,000. The Lewises have no dental insurance and recently lost two of their eight fishing boats that supply the family’s income to Hurricane Ike.
Lewis’ parents, Mark and Rhonda, estimate there has been more than $100,000 in uninsured costs related to their daughter’s recovery. With this in mind, friends have organized a local benefit on Friday, Oct. 17 and Saturday, Oct. 18.
The benefit will include a barbecue cook-off, horseshoe pitching contest, auction, and dance with a live band and will take place at the Magnolia Horse Arena, 31245 Friendship Ln. For cook-off information call Scott Knee at 936-672-3922; for information concerning the other events, call Phyllis Clay at 281-259-8175. Barbecue plates on Saturday, Oct. 17, will be available beginning at 11:30 a.m. The auction will begin at 5:30 p.m. followed by the dance at 7:30 p.m. Admission to the dance is $10 per person.
Ashleigh Lewis Benefit
What: Barbecue, auction and dance.
When: Saturday, Oct. 18, serving begins at 11:30 a.m.; live music begins at 7 p.m.
Where: The Magnolia Horse Arena at 31245 Friendship Lane.
Cost: $10 for barbecue plates, $5 for sandwiches and $10 per person for the dance.
Call 281-259-8175 for more information.
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