A woman is ‘terrified’ she will lose her jaw completely due to the devastating damage she suffered after a single punch attack more than 10 years ago, leaving part of her face ‘falling out’ in a horrific incident.
Jacqui Glynn was attacked by a stranger in December 2012 while she was waiting to pick up a friend at the Bayview Hotel in Redcliffe, a coastal suburb in Brisbane’s north.
Ms Glynn alleged she faced a number of challenges when she sought financial help from Victim Assist Queensland for her injuries. She alleged police refused to give her information about her attacker, which she needed to complete her application for support.
“The police neglected me for over a year,” Glynn told Daily Mail Australia.
The delay in treatment significantly worsened Mrs Glynn’s initial injuries, namely three loose teeth and a broken cheekbone.
“In 2014 I had all my top teeth removed,” said Ms. Glynn.
‘I ended up getting four layers of bone graft and three-foot screws put into my jaw. I was on the operating table for seven hours.’
Unfortunately, complications during the procedure, combined with endless bureaucracy, left Mrs. Glynn with a jaw injury and no one to take responsibility.
Jacqui Glynn (pictured) was the victim of a single punch attack in 2012 and is still struggling with dental complications more than a decade later
Mrs Glynn’s entire top row of teeth had to be removed after the attack and she was fitted with implants, but the screws (pictured) that secured them to her jaw came loose just a year later
Faced with the choice of paying thousands of dollars for private dental care or risking her jaw wearing out while waiting for treatment through the public system, Ms Glynn has turned to GoFundMe.
“I’m so scared I’ll end up with no jaw left,” she said.
‘I have asked Victim Support for help, but they claim to only be responsible for the three damaged teeth.
‘I tried to talk to the dentist who did the original treatment, but he said he couldn’t do anything for me because I don’t keep my maintenance appointments.
“I was having to pay about $500 every few months for a cleaning…I couldn’t afford the cost anymore.”
Mrs Glynn explained that after the horrific attack she had to have a number of plates fitted to her upper jaw, but just a year after they were fitted two screws that held the plates in place fell out.
Worse still, the clamps holding her dentures in place have come loose and she now has to use denture glue to keep her mouth intact.
The grinding of the metal caused severe damage to Mrs Glynn’s upper jaw and several of her lower teeth were damaged.
“It’s just a nightmare. I’m in pain all the time and I’m bleeding everywhere. There’s very little left of my jaw,” she said.
Ms Glynn says her dental problems have also cost her several relationships, as she is too anxious to leave her home.
Mrs Glynn (pictured before the attack) claims she is in constant pain but her implants cannot be repaired due to a cycle of irresponsibility.
On top of the physical injuries Ms Glynn (pictured without her implants) suffered, she also lost several relationships due to social anxiety following the attack.
“I’m not a vain person, but I always had a nice smile. Now I don’t go out anymore, my social life is zero because it’s just embarrassing,” she said.
‘People want to go out to eat, but I have to go to the bathroom halfway through eating to pull my teeth, apply more glue – because the glue doesn’t stick well to the metal plates – and then reattach them.
“When my teeth are in my face, my face looks swollen. When they are out of my face, I look older and lifeless.”
‘It makes me so insecure.’
Despite the impact the attack has had on Ms Glynn’s life, she said she doesn’t hold “too much resentment” towards the woman who beat her.
‘I was waiting to pick up a friend at the Bayview Hotel and got talking to a guy outside.
‘Suddenly I got a blow from the side. It turned out that the guy was the girl’s boyfriend.
‘She was a big girl, I’m not that big, and it took three guards to pull her off me.
“But she admitted it. She did the right thing. She pleaded guilty and paid the court-ordered damages. She took responsibility, no one else did.”
Ms Glynn said she has never raised money through government before, but she now believes this is her last chance to save her jaw and not become a recluse.
Mrs Glynn (pictured) said she has never fundraised before but now believes this is her last chance to save her jaw.
“I don’t really tell people because I find it embarrassing, but I cry all the time because of the pain,” she said.
I keep thinking that by the time the public system sees me, I won’t have a jaw to work with.
“It’s pretty scary.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Queensland Department of Justice and the Attorney-General’s Ethics Division for comment on Ms Glynn’s case.