Big Ear for J.R.

J.R. is a typical 4 year old boy. He loves trains, dinosaurs, transformers and watching Paw Patrol. He enjoys going to school and playing with his friends, but he has one limitation. Sometimes he cannot hear his teacher or his friends when they are talking to him. J.R. was born with Grade 3 Microtia Atresia and conductive hearing loss on his right side. Microtia means little ear and Atresia means there was no development of his ear canal, which caused the hearing loss. He requires multiple surgeries to correct this congenital defect and to improve his hearing and restore a natural ear appearance. A few months ago J.R. was looking in the mirror in the bathroom and he says, "Mommy, when will I have an ear like the other one. This ear (pointing to the little ear) is my bad ear." Tears started coming to my eyes. I knew this moment was coming, I just didn't think it was going to be so soon. First, I asked who said he had a bad ear, because we never said that. Second, I told him that when he is a little older we can go to the doctor to have his little ear made to be big like the left one. My heart was broken and I knew I needed to start going harder on my research to find answers about the ear reconstruction for Microtia ears. We saw a plastic surgeon in KS that didn't give us much information on what to expect for surgery for his ear. Then, when we moved to NJ we saw two more surgeons. One surgeon did not even do the type of surgery needed for his ear and the other was more of a general surgeon who would not even give us a number of surgeries he has done like J.R. The only information we knew was that he studied with a doctor in CA in 2015, where he learned about Microtia. The reason I am posting on here today is because the doctor we choose to complete the surgeries, Dr. Sheryl Lewin, does amazing work and she continues to perfect and improve her work. Because of the work she has done, she cannot afford to be an in-network provider for any insurance company. So we would have to pay out of pocket for her surgery fees. The first surgery is $25,000 and the second surgery is between $8,000 and $16,000. Along with the amount of travel and accommodations while we stay in the local California area for 2 weeks (requirement) after each surgery. We all want the best for our children and the best for J.R. is to have Dr. Lewin complete his surgery. Any little bit can help offset the costs that we have to come up with ourselves. If you are interested in the whole story, please click the link below. https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/bigearforjr