Mesa restaurant offering free food for life to dentist who will help former employee in need

East Valley restaurant to give away food to dentist who will fix former worker’s teeth for free

MESA, Ariz. - A restaurant in Mesa has an interesting offer of giving a dentist free food for life, if the dentist is willing to fix a former employee's teeth for free, in what could be a life-saving act.

Rico Miller worked at Mesa’s Matty G’s for several years, but Rico has to undergo dialysis, every other day, for four hours.

The treatments have made it virtually impossible for Rico to get to work. Now, the restaurant is stepping up to give Rico a helping hand.

"You find out how important life is when you find out it might be taken," said the owner of Matty G’s, Matthew Gorman.

Rico has the physical and emotional scars to show for his treatments.

"That gets to me every now and then,” said Rico. “It’s like, ‘ugh. I have to do this for the rest of my life, every day at 6:00 a.m.’ It’s hard to live a normal life like that."

Rico Miller

Before Rico can become a candidate for a kidney transplant, he needs major dental work. His back teeth rotted out during dialysis, and doctors are afraid infection would impact the new kidney.

The cost of fixing his teeth, however, is out of reach for Rico.

"I’m trying to work to save up, but not being able to work more than four days without really feeling it and doing myself more damage, it’s kind of tough," said Rico.

Gorman can’t afford to pay Rico’s dental bills either, but he is willing to offer free food to the dentist who will do the job. That, in turn, could lead to a new kidney, and a new and improved life for Rico.

"It’s like if your kid was sick, you have to do everything for him,” said Gorman. “He’s part of the family, so we’re going to do everything we can."