Ashleigh Fenn looking forward to new life with jaw surgery booked

Ashleigh Fenn's jaw problems have caused her health to decline and she has lost 30kg. Photo / File

The date is set and Ashleigh Fenn is already eyeing up a KFC order following her life-changing jaw surgery.

The Katikati nursing student will finally have the jaw she has been dreaming of for five years come February 11.

The 22-year-old needs a $60,000 bilateral jaw joint replacement surgery so she can once again eat properly and talk without pain.

"I'm stressing out a little bit because it is such a big surgery but the only thing I can focus on is the surgery date, and then I can look past that," she told the Bay of Plenty Times.

The long road started when Fenn was 16. She woke one morning and couldn't open her mouth.

After many procedures and surgeries to try and fix the jaw problems, she has had no answers as to the cause.

Five years later, a specialist in Wellington told her she would need both jaw joints replaced. That was two years ago.

But as no public funding was available for the type of surgery she needed in the Bay of Plenty, she was referred to Wellington, where some money was available but only enough to cover two people a year.

So Fenn was faced with funding the surgery herself. Thankfully, more than $80,000 was donated to her on a Givealittle page.

More than $60,000 was raised in the first eight hours, leaving Fenn and her husband Aaron overwhelmed.

"It's kind of crazy that it blew up just in one day. I didn't expect that to happen," she said.

Now the $30,000 deposit has been paid and last week Fenn received the call that her surgery date had been booked - as long as there are no complications with the new jaw, which has been made in California.

Of the surgery date, she said: "It seems so far away, but I need to keep reminding myself, that it is only two months."

She can only talk for short periods as it causes more pain in her joints and face.

She has a 7mm opening in her mouth and has been solely tube-fed for more than a year, resulting in rapid weight loss. In the past two weeks alone, she has lost four kilograms.

However, there had been complications with tube feeding.

"I am having some procedures to understand why I am not tolerating the tube feeds.

"I'm practically running on empty all the time."

She said the malnutrition resulting from the issues has caused epileptic seizures.

As she cannot open her mouth wide enough, if she vomits, she could aspirate.

Health issues caused by the condition have also affected her studies.

She was halfway through her last year when she had to pull out, but she is more than determined to continue in 2021.

"I only had a 10-week placement, then my exams left.

"I always wanted to do nursing, I want to work with people with jaw problems as well.

"I have a lot of empathy for people with the same problem."