Our daughter, Rowan is 3 years old, (almost 4!) and has a severe-to-profound hearing loss.  Her father and I both have a mutated gene which caused a hearing impairment in our child.  Although Rowan has hearing aids, she is not able to hear well enough to develop speech and language.  Her skills are extremely low and she cannot communicate verbally which she desperately wants to do!  The next step in her treatment is to implant a device called a cochlear implant which,with therapy, will give her the ability to access sound that we, as hearing people, take for granted.  Our fun-loving, amazing addition to the world is missing fundamental developmental milestones which will affect her for the rest of her life!  Rowan knows what she wants, and knows exactly how she wants it! She has chosen to be verbal which means that spoken language will be the primary way she communicates.  To explain more, it means that due to her impaired hearing she hasn’t developed the vocabulary and language structures or the speech skills to clearly say what she wants to say.  Imagine knowing what you want or need and not being able to tell someone!  This is what she faces everyday!

The longer we wait, the harder it will for her to develop the skills she needs.  It is extremely important that we don’t wait any longer to have the implant done, which is why I’m asking for help!!!

Covid has delayed her surgery, but our other main issue is that our insurance will only cover 50% of the huge cost and we also have a $6500 deductible!  Although Larry and I don’t feel comfortable asking for help, our doctor said “other people  are raising money to go to Disney, don’t be so full of pride that you don’t ask for help when it comes to something so important!” At this point it has been 4 months since she has been approved for surgery.  We have been trying to save and also applied for a scholarship from AG Bell but cannot possibly raise enough. We hate to ask for your help, but we know our friends and family love our little girl and will do anything to help!  We just have to ask!  We love you all and send prayers of thanks and hugs to all of you!

 

I know this is a tight financial time for many families, but I am humbly asking for your help!