Help me hear

I cannot believe that I am doing this. All my life, I have had hearing problems. I struggle with a moderate hearing loss that began in childhood because of painful ear infections, followed by several surgeries and years of specialists who cleaned my ears. I am still plagued by ear problems to this day.

I struggled with this hearing loss through high school and college and then, when I started teaching, I finally faced the fact that I needed hearing aids to be able to teach effectively.

About 10 years ago, I was finally able to afford decent hearing aids, and they have served me well. Then I moved to Latvia and started teaching here, and everything was okay, but hearing aids do not last forever.

On a recent trip back to the States, I was told by an expert who was servicing them that they were on their last legs. How right he was!

After returning to Latvia, my right hearing aid broke. Then the left one stopped working, but I was able to cobble pieces together myself from both of them to keep one running, but who knows how long it will continue to function! As it is, the sound is muffled, and it isn't really doing much good.

I looked around hoping that I would qualify for state funding here in Latvia, but my hearing loss is not acute enough. So I made an appointment with a local hearing specialist for new hearing aids and was sad to learn that even here, they are quite expensive.

I also tried a generic hearing aid that I bought online once to save money, but it was pretty worthless. After so many surgeries, my ear canals are a bit abnormal and hearing aids require special molds and adjustments to be able to work properly

To top it all off, I just lost my job. They downsized my position. I had been working from home, so having good hearing was not a priority, but now that I am back on the job market and likely looking at getting a teaching job again, having the ability to hear my students will be crucial.

I realize that there are more important fundraisers out there, and that this is not the highest priority for anyone, but if you can afford to give something, it would help in this time of need.