After being attacked in his own neighbourhood because of his rotten teeth, Jim Johnson now has a reason to smile.
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Jim, who has an acquired brain injury, now has a shiny set of new teeth after his jaw was broken by a stranger in August.
The Shortland man had asked the stranger for a lift to the bottleshop on the afternoon of August 27, but the driver refused because of Jim's bad teeth.
The pair exchanged a few curse words before Jim went on his way.
But after Jim left the bottleshop, beers in hand, the stranger attacked him and left him with a jaw broken in two places.
This awful thing that happened has ended up restoring dignity to him. The smile on his face was incredible.
- Dharna Johnson
Jim required surgery and had to have all of his teeth removed.
His sister Dharna initially put out an appeal on social media to find the man who attacked her brother, but someone suggested starting a GoFundMe to pay for some new teeth for Jim.
She was amazed when the page managed to raise $5600, which more than funded upper and lower plates that were implanted in Jim's mouth last week.
"It's just really community coming together," she said.
"It's been a beautiful moment in time in the midst of COVID - people are really struggling and they are still taking time to donate.
"Some people donated several hundred dollars multiple times."
Dharna said the response had been a silver lining to what was a horrible incident.
"It sounds cliche but there's a sense of restoration of faith in the community," she said.
"We know it all started because of his teeth.
"This awful thing that happened has ended up restoring dignity to him.
"The smile on his face was incredible.
"He doesn't smile with his teeth ever - it's kind of shocking to see.
"We're very excited that so many people care about this kid, who up until that point was mostly ignored."
The cost of the teeth with related expenses was about $4000.
Dharna said the extra money would go towards an iPad for Jim, and potentially an electric scooter or bike, to provide him with more independence in his everyday life.
"He's got a chance to have a really nice life," Dharna said.
"Jim's still got so many challenges to overcome - but when you're speaking, you look at someone's mouth - now he doesn't have that barrier."
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