{"id":249872,"date":"2026-04-14T21:48:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/249872\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T21:48:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:48:51","slug":"after-losing-his-teeth-to-cancer-treatment-community-support-helps-an-el-paso-musician-find-hope-and-a-new-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/249872\/","title":{"rendered":"After losing his teeth to cancer treatment, community support helps an El Paso musician find hope and a new smile"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four years after undergoing extensive surgery for Stage 4 laryngeal cancer, Russ Kalman has his smile back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI smile at little kids again, so they\u2019re not scared of me,\u201d Kalman said with \u2026 well, a smile.<\/p>\n

In preparation for his cancer surgery in April 2022, doctors removed all but nine of Kalman\u2019s teeth. It has limited his ability to eat solid food and made him self-conscious. With limited dental insurance, Kalman couldn\u2019t afford the thousands of dollars for the treatments he\u2019d need for dentures.<\/p>\n

So, his family turned to El Paso for help<\/a>, and got an overwhelming response. A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $13,000. University Medical Center offered financial assistance to\u00a0 Kalman and connected him with Dr. Hans Brockhoff<\/a>, a leading expert in reconstructive surgery for head and neck cancers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to say the word grateful again, and amazed that a community could come together. It gave me more faith in El Paso, in humanity,\u201d said his wife, Kat Tyler.<\/p>\n

Kalman said he received help from family and friends, and people from El Paso\u2019s music and performance communities. Kalman was a bass player in numerous El Paso bands over the years, and has worked as a theatrical production specialist handling lighting, sound, video and props.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tyler was a vocalist for Q.I.D. and other El Paso bands, and was a radio personality for many years. She now works as a nurse.<\/p>\n

RELATED: 1980s El Paso rock band Q.I.D. lands song in new Apple TV show<\/a><\/p>\n

Kalman still faces months of treatment, including dental implants and time in hyperbaric chambers to speed bone healing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a major dental transformation that\u2019s still ongoing,\u201d said Zoe Kalman, the daughter of Russ Kalman and Tyler. \u201cBut even though more challenges are to come, he\u2019s happy and more confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Russ Kalman and his wife, Kat Tyler, express gratitude to the friends and community members that helped raise money for Kalman to undergo surgery for dental implants. Kalman had lost most of his teeth due to surgery for laryngeal cancer. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n

Tyler said the biggest change she\u2019s seen in Kalman since he was fitted for dentures is \u201che\u2019s hardly home. He\u2019s always going somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalman said that the lack of teeth left him self-conscious and uncomfortable in public spaces. He grew what he calls \u201ca ridiculous mustache\u201d to hide his lack of teeth.<\/p>\n

Now, the mustache is gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been laughing more in public,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kalman, who turned 68 in March, speaks with a voice prosthesis as a result of his cancer surgery, but is otherwise healthy. Recent blood tests confirmed he remains cancer-free.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, life is beautiful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four years after undergoing extensive surgery for Stage 4 laryngeal cancer, Russ Kalman has his smile back. \u201cI…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[4621,138,140,139],"class_list":["post-249872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-culture","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}