Cedar Springs — When she was about 14, Alana Wiles was enjoying a dip in the pool during spring break. As she lifted her head out of the water, she noticed that something wasn’t right.
“When I came back up, my jaw just wouldn’t close,” the Cedar Springs High School senior recalled. “It was stuck open.”
Alana was able to “pop” her jaw back into place, but the experience set off a chain of events that would turn the next several years of her life into a trial marked by nonstop pain, several facial surgeries, grueling recovery periods and, eventually, the complete replacement of her jaw with a titanium substitute.
Alana has degenerative bone and disc disease, but no one knew that at the time. When her jaw locked, she was already undergoing orthodontia to correct an underbite, and doctors at the time believed she simply had temporomandibular joint disorder, or TMJ, a common condition that causes pain in the jaw joints.
She had surgery to correct the condition, but what should have been a simple two-hour procedure turned into a complicated, 10-hour ordeal.
She woke up in “the most pain I’ve ever felt in my life.” And that was just the start of it. With her jaw wired shut for six weeks after the surgery, she experienced excessive weight loss and just generally felt terrible.
She had a hard time readjusting to school after taking about six weeks off for the procedure, just as she was starting high school. Her GPA suffered a bit, and she was self-conscious about the swelling in her jaw. Additionally, as a star softball player, Alana said she lost some of her athletic prowess as a result of the constant food restrictions and weight loss.
Not to mention, the pain she’d been experiencing since the jaw-locking incident also didn’t decrease. She was injected with medication that helped with the pain for a while, but it didn’t provide lasting relief.
‘You don’t want to let something — no matter how large it is — take over your entire life. You need to keep living. You need to keep going. Because life is short.’
— senior Alana Wiles
The Problems Persist
Over time, her jaw began to recede again, threatening to undo all the work she’d already had done. So Alana went back in for another surgery — an exploratory one, this time, to see what the underlying problem was. That’s when they found the degenerative bone and disc disease, along with arthritis.
“The disc that holds my jaw in place just was gone,” Alana said. “It was barely there.”
Doctors said Alana would continue to experience jaw recession, and that the discs holding her jaw in place would inevitably degenerate completely. They recommended that she have her entire jaw replaced.
The surgery couldn’t come soon enough for Alana, who was, at the time, entering her senior year of high school. She’d been dealing with pain and discomfort for years, and she was tired of feeling self-consciousness about her face.
The surgery took place at the tail end of August, though, and she had to miss some crucial school time.
“I couldn’t start my senior year with any of my friends, and I was behind in all my classes,” Alana said. “And I was taking three AP (classes), so I was stressed about that.”
A Major Surgery
The procedure itself was quite an undertaking, essentially requiring a complete reconstruction of Alana’s face, using a titanium jaw bone and titanium plates that extended up into the area around her cheekbones and sinuses.
“Basically, the whole lower half of my face, I would say, is fake, except for my chin,” Alana said.
But at least she finally has answers. She knows why the orthodontia didn’t work, why her jaw locked in the first place and why her pain persisted despite multiple attempts to treat the problem.
She never let her grades slip too far, though she’s missed three to four months of school, all told. And she regained the ground she felt she’d lost with softball, too.
Throughout the whole ordeal, Alana has felt self-conscious about her appearance. It’s taken a great deal of effort, she said, to overcome the feeling that people are always looking at her, judging or critiquing the changes in her facial structure resulting from her various surgeries.
“I’ve had like three different faces, just in high school: I had my original one; then I had the one after my first surgery, which was much different; then finally getting used to that and having it change again. And it’s not gradual, like over time.”
Seeing the Positive
It’s been tough, she said, but she’s had a lot of time to “get philosophical” about the whole experience, and now, when she talks about it, she’s able to see the good that came out of it all.
“I feel like I have a sense of individuality, or a newfound confidence, that I wouldn’t have if none of this had happened,” Alana said. “Like, there’s so much more to life and to myself than how I look.”
She added: “Just noticing and realizing and coming to terms with the fact that my appearance is not the most important thing about me, gave me more confidence in who I am as an individual rather than what my appearance is like.”
Alana’s teachers have taken note of her perseverance and determination. Her band director, Colin Weber, said she’s an inspiration.
“Despite facing the physical and emotional challenges of major surgery, she never wavered in her commitment to the band,” where she played percussion, Weber said. “She pushed through, learning every detail of the marching band show.”
High school counselor Danielle Paoni agreed, calling Alana the very picture of “resilience and determination.”
“She adapted rather than avoided when she had to find a new way to eat, keep up with school, navigate difficult peer experiences and come to grips with the fact that her face would change,” Paoni said. “Where many might have faltered, quitting was never an option for her.”
Paoni noted that there’s an irony to Alana’s story — she was voted “Best Smile” by her high-school peers.
“I was shocked to say the least,” Alana said of the honor. “To know that people think my smile is something worth recognizing and remembering makes me feel great.”
Alana’s not sure what comes next for her, but she’s excited to find out. She plans to attend Grand Rapids Community College to explore her options. She has an interest in fashion and design, and she hopes to take some classes to learn more about it.
She wants to make sure she’s making the right choice about her future, and not wasting time. Her experience has taught her that time is limited and valuable, and that’s a message she hopes to pass on to others.
“You don’t want to let something — no matter how large it is — take over your entire life. You need to keep living. You need to keep going. Because life is short.”
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