Hi everyone! My name is Mallory, and I want to tell you a little about my daughter.
Our sweet Zion Jenevieve was born on November 26, 2023, at 34 weeks gestation via emergency C-section. She stayed in the NICU for 20 days. While in the NICU, they performed her newborn hearing screening 4 times, all of which she failed. After she was released, we had multiple appointments with the audiologist, and they recommended she undergo an ABR (auditory brainstem response) as well as get tubes placed for fluid buildup on her eardrum, thinking the fluid could possibly be the reason she was failing her hearing tests. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
She had her tubes placed and the test ran on July 19, 2024. As a result of the findings in the surgery, she was diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss of both ears. So in layman's terms, she is deaf. They recommended that we consider her getting bilateral cochlear implants, which was pretty much an immediate decision of, if this is what's best for our child, we want to do it.
So we continued on the path of going to appointments and speaking to multiple doctors that specialize in children with her type of hearing loss and children with cochlear implants. They have shared with us that for her developmental health, it is best to have her implanted as soon as possible, but have the goal of by her first birthday, in just a few short months.
All of her care has been completely self-pay, from my care while I was pregnant, to her birth, her NICU stay, to her current appointments (which are at an average of 1 per week, with the likely possibility of those increasing). And being self-pay, the cost of her implant surgery is coming in at roughly $160,000, $80,000 per ear. And she is currently scheduled for her surgery on December 5, 2024.
All donations will go directly to Zion’s medical care!!
Asking for help is not something that comes easy, but we want to give our girl the best possible chance at communication, development, and hearing that we can. If a donation is not financially feasible for you, please share and keep Zion in your thoughts or prayers.
We appreciate each and every person that will listen to/read our story. And if there is anyone who has any questions about donating, please feel free to reach out.
Thank you,
The LaTourette Family
Zed, Mallory, Ziva, and Zion