Man unable to eat food to have life-changing dental procedure

NORTHVILLE, Mich. (FOX 2) - They are not the most desirable meals, but for Kris Green they will have to do.

The 29-year-old has been eating through feeding tubes for years as a result of a surgery from a birth defect.

"I had a problem where my stomach wasn't attached to my throat and when my throat was attached to my lungs," Green said. "I couldn't eat without it getting breathed in. They fixed that the day after I was born, but something happened in the surgery room and they ended up poking a hole in my esophagus and collapsing my right lung."

He's had roughly 80 surgeries since then. Acid reflux ate away his teeth. His nutrition suffered, causing his weight at one point to drop to 85 pounds. 

"Most days I'm capable of reminding myself that I need to just be glad I got up in the morning," Green said.

But on others: "It causes isolation, I found that I feel like I'm a burden."

"His story just hit our heart strings so hard that I went home and told my wife, 'I'm going to help this young man,'" said Dr. Randy Allain of West Oakland Advanced Dental Artistry in Highland.  

Kris' boss at Canton Computers told Dr. Allain about his worker's plight. Dr. Allain is committing to provide Kris with dental implants for $10,000, a fraction of what the procedure would normally cost.

"He needs both top and bottom and just sometimes just doing the top arch can range anywhere from $35,000 up to $50,000," Dr. Allain said.

Kris took to GoFundMe so his friends and family could help him save up for the procedure and he's getting more support than he could've ever imagined.

"I figured maybe $50 from grandma and grandpa," he said. "But there's been a ton of people from here to California that are donating." 

We asked him what meal he'd love to have most when this is all said and done. 

"Honestly, I would love to have some fresh made lemon cake." he said. "Meal aside, I'm going for the sweet tooth."

If you want to help him get closer to the lemon cake, you can make a donation through his GoFundMe page here.