Help Jer keep hearing (because capitalism won't)

Hi, my name is Isa, and I'm really grumpy to be having to ask for this support. In 2016, my partner Jer had surgery to remove a mass in his middle ear. The mass had overtaken his middle ear bones, and titanium prosthetics were put in to retain hearing. Unfortunately, the prosthetics fell out of place, and they completely lost hearing in their left ear.

A year later, he had another surgery to receive a bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA). The BAHA is implanted into the mastoid bone just behind Jer's ear. The processor attaches magnetically to his head, pics up sound through an external microphone, and vibrates the bone, sending the signal to the auditory nerve so that he can hear.

This fall, his current processor becomes obsolete, and he won't be able to have it repaired or get replacement parts. Unfortunately, insurance will not cover the upgrade, so our choice is to pay $4000 out of pocket or accept a significant loss in hearing for Jer without access to sound on one side.

Unilateral loss of access to sound affects Jer significantly. It is already difficult for him to hear conversations in noisy environments; without their BAHA, it is nearly impossible. Jer performs locally in music, improv, and sketch comedy. His BAHA helps him to hear other performers on stage.

We have so far been able to avoid asking for help, but we are currently paying for my costly emergency room bill from earlier this year as well as my surgery at the end of June, and we are tapped out and unable to pay for the upgraded processor. This is causing a lot of anxiety for us both, especially Jer, who is having to worry about the potential of losing half of his hearing access.

We do our very best to support our community whenever we can, and we would really appreciate any help you are able to give back at this time.

Thank you so much,

Isa and Jer