HELP Gavin Hear

Gavin was born July 25th, 2013. He is currently 15 months old. In Georgia, they do a mandatory hearing screening before leaving the hospital. Gavin failed. Since then, it has been countless trips to audiologists and ENTs, as well as one to an ophthalmologist, as well as two sedated tests to find out exactly what is going on. He has been diagnosed with Profound Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss. In other words, he is completely deaf in his right ear. He is also extremely near-sighted (we are hoping it fixes itself) and has some balance issues due to his auditory nerve never developing. While he has ‘perfect’ hearing in his left ear, he is at risk for speech and language delays, which can already be seen. He has great difficulty hearing certain speech sounds, which makes it difficult to understand and make connections to we are saying, as well as learn how to say these words as well. While, of course, in mine and my husband’s eyes, he is perfect, I know there is a need for help. Early intervention is key. This comes in the form of a lovely hearing aid called a BAHA, or Bone Anchored Hearing Aid. We got to try out 2 loaner aids, and from just the 2 months of using them, his speech and understanding sky-rocketed!  

This is where you come in to play. Now, it is extremely hard for me to do this. Call it a pride thing, but I hate asking for help. But after all the medical bills in such a short amount of time (15 months) we are beyond tapped out. And, this is also for awareness. While we are THANKFULLY receiving help from our health insurance, it was a fight. In Georgia, hearing aids are considered ‘experimental’ and ‘cosmetic’ since it doesn’t ‘fix’ the issue, only aids. While they will cover his surgery when he is 5, they usually will not cover the soft-band (it attaches like a headband) aid beforehand. Like I said, they are thankfully, due to our wonderful audiologist fighting for Gavin, will cover up to 75% (but probably not that much), it is up to us for the last 25+%. Money we just don’t have laying around.

We have until December 1 to decide if we are able to do this by December 13, which is the date the insurance company gave us. We only need $1,200! This is Gavin’s critical time for learning speech and language cues.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read all this, as I am sure I have rambled long enough. Any more questions, you know where to find me. I am also going to attach where you can find more information.

Thank you again. Your love is greatly appreciated, and we owe you huge!