Help for Natalia!

-Mummy, I’m different from everyone else. Everyone has both ears, but not me.

-Does it bother you?

-Not me, but it does bother others...

Natalie is having crises recently. She feels different from others. Some kids stare at her ear, point their fingers at her and approach her asking why she has such an ear. Natalie doesn’t complain often, however this time it hurt more than usual. Kids can be ruthless...

Different doesn’t mean worse. But how do you explain that to a child? Especially when on the next day at school a girl sitting opposite keeps staring at Natalie’s ear. Soon she calls her friend and they start whispering, both looking at my little girl…

When she came to this world, Natalie made us a double surprise. We were expecting a boy. At least that’s what the doctors said – „99% sure it’s a boy!” A girl was born – beautiful and lovely. The second surprise was her tiny, malformed ear. As we saw her for the first time we promised to ourselves we’d do whatever it takes to minimise the fault’s impact on her life. Subsequent years were full of challenges. Continuous visits to hospitals, dozens of examinations, thousands of kilometres travelled. Permanent  rehabilitation. Awaiting and uncertainty...

The diagnosis said: malformation of the auricle with microtia, narrowed external auditory canal and left-hand sided severe conductive hearing loss. Unfortunately that’s not all... Due to Natalie’s one-sided hearing loss she keeps turning her head which additionally caused vision and a postural defects. The older she got the more she would understand. She could sense other people’s gaze on her and she kept asking us why would they do that.

We know that this unfair fate can be turned around, that Natalie’s earlobe can be reconstructed allowing her to hear with both ears. In April we took Natalie for a consultation with medical doctors from The Hearing Device Center in California. We attended a conference there given by two brilliant doctors – dr. Roberson who specializes in repairing of the ear canal and dr. Reinisch who devised an innovative method for ear reconstruction.

The conference and individual consultations taught us more than what we had learnt throughout 7 years in Poland. Natalie is to get a BAHA hearing aid (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid) implanted behind her ear. It will be responsible for equalizing the sound. The device shall be implanted into the skull during the auricular reconstruction surgery. If the required sum is collected on time the surgery could be conducted in July! Soon after, Natalie would go to school with a new ear and the device in place.

Mom, can we finally go to that surgery? Everyone keeps asking me about my small ear and I have to keep explaining over and over again. I’ve had enough of this – these are the words we recently heard from Natalie. However, the surgery’s cost is huge so we must ask for help.

Only your help can let us make Natalie’s future better, make the judging gazes disappear along with the sadness in her eyes…

Parents