Help This Mama Hear

Hi! My name is McKenna. I'm 26 years old, a mama to an adorable 6-month-old, and a loving wife to an incredible hardworking husband.

It's always been the running joke in my family that I'm deaf as a post, but unfortunately, that has started to ring a little too accurate. After years of avoiding group conversations at work, staying quiet at family gatherings because I was always missing half the conversation, and asking my poor husband to repeat what he said a million times, I finally went to see an audiologist.

I received the news I expected, but not the one I wanted. I lost the gene-pool lottery and have moderate genetic sensorineural "cookie-bite" hearing loss, which means that I'm losing the ability to hear middle-range sounds - right where conversations, music, and many ambient noises happen. The audiologist recommended I use hearing aids. There's no fixing it; it'll likely just keep going downhill as I age.

I started a hearing aid trial a few days ago and spent forty minutes on a park bench that first evening, turning them on and off in complete shock at the difference. I never realized the world had so much sound; it was like taking a pair of noise-canceling headphones on and off. I could hear and understand everything, and it's just been incredibly freeing.

What isn't so freeing is the cost. Our insurance doesn't cover anything, and $4,000+ a set is quite a bit out of reach for what my little family can afford, leaving me little choice but to return the aids after the trial. We are looking into more affordable options, but even they are upwards of $2,000+.

I usually am never one to ask for help, but losing the freedom of hearing after seeing the difference makes my heart sink. We still want to pay for as much as we can, but any little help to make the difference would mean the world to my family and me. We thank you so much!