Help me hear

Uday is six years old. His birth was traumatic and despite numerous difficulties he has grown into a happy, strong, clever and cheeky boy. He enjoys school, swimming and dancing. Uday has hearing loss in both ears. He wears a hearing aid in left ear that gives him limited access to sound and he has Atresia in right ear.

We have been meeting ENT specialists and Audiologists ever since we realised that Uday has a speech delay at the age of two years. We were told about various options BUT the specialists took FOUR years to decide what would best suit Uday’s hearing loss. We finally had the answer that a Cochlear Implant would help Uday hear better. The only catch was because he is not profoundly deaf in that ear The Ministry Of Health/Education will not fund the surgery for implant. We were told to come up with the money ($55,000) if we want to help our son which would improve his ability to learn and communicate better.

The benefits of Uday receiving a Cochlear Implant are :

His increased understanding of peer conversations and not feeling rejected, which will increase his confidence in group situations.

Him feeling not so tired at the end of the day trying hard to listen and understand.

His ability to know direction where the sound is coming from and increased body balance.

He will not be mistaken for choosing to not listen or being inattentive or easily distracted.

Without being able to listen from both ears my son would be 10 TIMES more likely to fall behind in school and have behavioural and social issues.

The Cochlear Implant is Uday’s only option to make life less stressful and more fun in his formative years. A lot of time has already been wasted waiting, it's only going to get harder for him to accept artificial sound generated by any device.

As his parents, we are convinced of the importance of Cochlear Implant and the possibilities it will offer him. Uday can have a happy life and a brighter future. All contributions will be received with heartfelt gratitude.