Despite endless medical challenges due to a genetic disorder, little Jeneece Edroff managed to smile through it all while also raising more than a million dollars for charity. But now that famous smile is being taken away.
“Last month I had all the tops removed, and today I get all the bottoms removed,” said Edroff, who now goes by Frankie.
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After years of harsh medications, the 29-year-old says his teeth were basically crumbling.
“The teeth were so badly infecting me that I was having bladder infections every two weeks, I had meningitis in 2019 due to the teeth and I had a blood infection two years ago due to my teeth.”
But as Frankie prepares to get his final teeth pulled, there’s uncertainty about what comes next. The dentist has told the family that with Frankie’s health issues, screw-in denture implants are the only way to go. But they cost upwards of $30,000.
“It’s hard, we have to do this, there’s not really an option so we just have to make do, we go and find ways to get the rest,” said Frankie’s mom Angie Edroff.
They’ve launched a GoFundMe campaign hoping people may find a few extra pennies themselves to help Edroff smile again. But asking doesn’t come easy.
“I like to be the one to help others, help do things, I always leave myself last,” he said.
The last time Edroff needed help, to get to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for treatment in 2012, the community stepped up in a big way, raising more than $100,000. The family says that money is now mostly gone thanks to expenses related to Frankie’s ongoing medical needs.
Now Frankie needs yet another pricey procedure but it’s one he admits would be life-changing, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well.
“I’ve had a lot of self-appearance issues so that’s why I haven’t been up to doing my YouTube and I don’t go out and see many of my friends so it’s been difficult.”
A new smile, Frankie says, would change that.
April Lawrence
