28 Jul Summer Smile Makeover Winner
Meet our Grand Prize Summer Smile Makeover Winner Nichole Sequin:
Here is Nicole’s inspiring story:
I can’t say that I deserve to win any more than anyone else, but I can tell you why I hope to win. Coming from a large (I have five older brothers) single parent home and my mom’s death when I was 17 years old, I never went to a dentist until age 19. My teeth have always been over crowded and have been a source of ridicule and embarrassment for me. In 36 years, there are probably only about a dozen pictures of me with a full smile because of this. I have always been a “smiley” person but I have always smiled with my mouth closed or with my hand or hair covering my mouth. I have had some dental work done such as extractions, fillings and a crown which were all done in various shades and you can see the color variations. I am a breast cancer survivor and have several other medical conditions that required medications, one of which was Kenalog (a steroid shot that weakens bone density that I was on for a year). During that time, my dental health deteriorated greatly regardless of what I did for my oral care. I still have overcrowding and I have several cavities that need to be addressed. Recently, I chipped two of my teeth in front and I would really like to get those fixed before the damage becomes too extensive to save them.
I recently lost my job and I fear that my smile could be preventing me from finding employment. Also, later this year I have a family reunion and in two years I have my twenty year class reunion and I would love to be able to smile for the first time without being self-conscious about it. Another reason why I would love to have a beautiful smile is because I am engaged to be married (no date yet) and I have always dreaded the thought of my wedding pictures because of my teeth.
I have always believed in the concept of pay it forward and I have volunteered with organizations such as Coalition for Compassion and Justice (CCJ), Habitat for Humanity, AZ Project New Hope, and I am an administrator for the group “I Can Help” on Facebook. I have also been a part of organizing several fundraising benefits for people who have had medical/dental issues that they couldn’t afford treatment for, didn’t have insurance or their insurance didn’t cover their treatment as well as the “Whiskey Row Fire” benefit.
I am very active at my church (Prescott United Methodist Church) where I have gone for twelve years. I am the hospitality chairperson, sing in the Celebration Choir, I was the Director for Lifetree Cafe, I oversee both the Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve dinners at the church as well as the weekly Wednesday night dinners, play on the church’s softball team and I volunteer with Vacation Bible School and various other events throughout the year.
I am the Founder/Director for Serving Our Soldiers (SOS) which is a program to help past, current, future (ROTC cadets) soldiers and provides support for their families as well. Not only do we send care packages to our deployed soldiers for the holidays, but also to their families that are here stateside. We also help locally with non-medical in home care, minor home repairs and chores, some financial assistance for things (such as ROTC boots, medications not covered by insurance, home repair materials and utilities in times of financial crisis), various transportation needs, provide support to the families during funerals and give the families a display case for the flags that are presented to them during the service and creating defensible fire safe areas around their homes to name a few things that we do.
I consider myself to be a humble person and I have always had difficulty speaking about myself, but I hope that this entry gives you a look into who I am and into my life to give me a chance to have my dream of having a beautiful smile come true.
Thank you for having this contest to makes someone’s dream come true.