Give Tori the Gift of Sound

Hello, my name is LaTisha and I am a Special Education Teacher and PhD student, my husband is a retired disabled military vet and we have a 30 year old daughter that has Down Syndrome and Moya Moya disease. Tori is one of the most loving people on this planet. She is so smart; she is in her second full year of college. About two years ago, my husband and I started noticing that when we spoke to her, she would just stare at us like she was trying to figure out what we were saying and who we were talking to. After many ENT appointments, we were finally sent for hearing tests with an audiologist, and it was determined that she had a 30% hearing loss.

A few months went by, and I was contacting the audiologist’s office repeatedly without success. I finally called the ENT’s office to let them know I was having a hard time reaching anyone. His office began calling, and of course, they also had a hard time reaching anyone, but they finally did, and the process began to get my baby hearing aids. She had lost a little bit more hearing from the initial appointment to the eventual follow-up appointment with the audiologist. Because her ears and ear canals are so tiny, it was determined that she needed the COCHLEAR Baja Softband.

Of course, we have insurance, so we provided that, and of course, there was a hiccup with the insurance, but we got that fixed and moved forward. We finally received an email on March 24, 2025, that we were approved and our carrier would cover 100%. One week and one day later, I received a phone call that a mistake had been made by our reimbursement specialist and that we needed to pay $1269.00, basically $1300, as co-insurance.

Now, I never ask for anything, but we placed a new roof on our house. Once we did that, we did renovations on two bathrooms that were supposed to only take three weeks and cost $6800. It actually took two months and four days and cost a little over $10,000. The dryer went out two and a half weeks later, and the stove stopped working during the snowstorm. We have taken a hit financially over the last few months, and after being told that everything is covered, to now having to pay 20% is devastating, especially knowing the equipment will not be shipped until the funds are received. We just need some help. Everyone said don’t do this, but no one offered to help. Anything you can do is helpful and very much appreciated.