Ear for Sebastian

Story

Where do we start? Shirley and I (Carlos) we’re blessed with the arrival of our first born, a marathon effort on Shirley’s behalf to deliver Sebastian, a beautiful boy, our tears of joy soon turned to confusion and anxiety as the nurses scrambled around our baby who was still not breathing, then... the screams every mother will never forget bounced around the room and Sebastian was in our arms.there is nothing more perfect when a child is born, the joy, the tears, the excitement of receiving a little human to journey through life with you is amazing. Shirley and I started this journey in 2011 and on that very first day we realised although we thought we were ready and prepped for every scenario Sebastian had something special. Sebastian was born with Microtia Atresia.My my friend google will explain:Microtia is a congenital deformity affecting the outer ear (pinna) where the ear does not fully develop during the first trimester of pregnancy. ... Microtia is often accompanied by Atresia. Atresia (also known as aural atresia) is the absence or closure of the external auditory ear canal.So as new parents we were lost, where do we go who do we see what can we do?? Our ENT doctors didn’t seem to know much about this rare condition. It was only until we moved from Melbourne to Brisbane when we were able to meet the awesome team at Hear and Say, there was an annual conference that we attended and we found out that there was hope to get Sebastian an ear and hearing on his right side, the down side was that health insurance wouldn’t cover any of the $150,000 medical bill that it cost to get surgery done in the USA.Fast forward a few years and a break through! in March 2019 a Sydney surgeon will be performing Australia’s first 3D printed soft polyurethane microtia repair. Sebastian and I went to Sydney in December 2018 and met with the surgeon and Sebastian is an eligible candidate for this procedure, on top of that our out of pocket bill will be just over $20,000. Sebastian is a caring, sensitive young man and loves his family, enjoys the piano and has a wild imagination, his smile shines through any dark cloud. Help us give Sebastian an ear this year. Thank you so much!!