Woman born with 'twin inside of her' getting help from community fundraiser

SIGURD, Sevier County — A small-town community is rallying together to help one of their own get a new smile.

Vega Watt, 26, was born with a rare condition called cranial dysplasia that stemmed from an abnormality in fetal development where she started to split into a twin and then stopped. This left her with many challenges, including extra teeth.

"Vega doesn't have a corpus callosum, which connects the right and left brains," Vega Watt's mother, Amanda Watt, explained. "She has a seam down her forehead and a seam in her heart, along with a heart murmur. As she started to grow, and teeth started to come in, she had a bunch of extra ones. It was almost like she got her (twin) sister's full set of teeth. Her mouth was crowded, so the dentist removed a lot of teeth."

Amanda Watt explained that the extra teeth and subsequent removal of teeth have caused her daughter a lot of pain. She said doctors tried to save as many teeth as they could, but in the end, they were all removed.

There have been other surgeries that Vega Watt has had to endure, and one of them caused her to be admitted to the intensive care unit last fall.

"Vega had to have a full facial reconstruction where she had to have her upper jaw moved forward," Amanda Watt said. "She had a plastic surgeon who is an excellent doctor. Unfortunately, Vega ended up aspirating, and she was in the ICU last year for 23 days."

Amanda Watt said one of the hardest things about their time spent in the ICU was that her daughter was there during Halloween, which is her favorite holiday. With Vega Watt healing over the past year, the Watts have been hoping to finally give Vega Watt some teeth so that she can eat more foods and, of course, smile confidently.

They, however, have faced yet another challenge.

"We've been trying to get her a new set of teeth, and we were told that her insurance would pay for the cheapest dentures," Amanda Watt explained. "We were going to do what we could to pay out-of-pocket for implants, but then we were recently told that the insurance isn't going to pay for anything."

Amanda Watt explained that the reasoning was due to insurance codes and her daughter's need to have the dental procedure conducted at the hospital.

Community stepping in

Nestled between Richfield and Salina in Sevier County is the town of Sigurd, with a population of 400 people, where the Watt family lives.

When local food truck owner Jackie Terry said she heard about Vega Watt's situation, she wanted to do everything she could to help.

"Amanda and I met while working with the intellectually disabled, and we have become great friends," Terry said. "I have gotten to know Vega over the years and have seen what she has gone through. She is the most resilient, sassy and spunky girl, and when I was approached about helping with a fundraiser, I was all in."

Terry, owner of Momma Jack's Farm to Table BBQ, will be stationed at the Sigurd Corn Maze on Thursday, Oct. 30. She will donate all proceeds to help Vega Watt. There will be other events at the corn maze, including a cornhole tournament. Amanda Watt said she has been overwhelmed with the community support and is excited about the prospect of giving her daughter the help she needs.

"I want Vega to have some semblance of a normal way of eating," Amanda Watt said. "She's never been able to eat normally. She used to eat with her tongue to her bottom teeth because she had such a serious underbite. She is also very self-conscious about her smile, and she won't open her mouth when she smiles. She's 26 years old, and she just loves life, and Halloween is her favorite time of year. We thought this would be the perfect time to do a fundraiser for her."

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