Madison's Coclear Implant
Donation protected
Hello!
My name is Andrew and I'm raising money for my girlfriend Madison to get a cochlear implant. Madison is 23 now, and she has been deaf since she was 15. She currently uses hearing aids but her hearing loss is so severe that her everyday life is very hard, even with hearing aids. A cochlear implant would significantly improve her quality of life. Going to her college classes, or going to the grocery store, or going to a restaurant, or going to a social event in general would no longer have the added stress of not understanding anything anyone is saying. Madison loves nature and she would be able to enjoy the sounds of the birds and the cicadas and the wind.
My goal is to raise for $7,000 for Madison. (Updated to $5,500 on July 27, 2020 since we raised about $1,500 outside of GoFundMe). This will cover the out of pocket costs for her implant and surgery, after insurance. This will include:
-Cochlear implant for one ear (internal)
-Surgery
-Processor (external, same ear, sends signal to Implant)
-Matching hearing aid (other ear, interfaces with Processor)
Who is Madison?
Madison is 23 years old and has lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana her whole life. She is currently studying Ecology at Purdue University Fort Wayne. She plans to go on to get a Masters and a Ph.D. with a focus on environmental restoration or marine mammals, and become a professor.
Madison has had a lot of challenges in her life but she remains the most positive and hardest working person I've ever met. She was hit by a car when riding her bike last year (she flew up over the car and landed on her side) and she limped to class the next day. She doesn't like to ask for help, so I'm asking for her.
Madison's Hearing
Madison was born with normal hearing. In middle school she started to notice her hearing getting worse. By the time she got to high school she was profound deaf in both ears and was also having vertigo attacks frequently, sometimes weekly. She then learned she has Meniere's disease and Sensorineural hearing loss.
Now Madison is 23 and has permanent hearing loss in both ears, with a "ski slope" shape. This means she can hear very low sounds, but can't hear high sounds very much at all. So to Madison, everyone sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher. The audiogram below is from her most recent hearing test, done February 2020.
Update on May 9, 2020:
Madison had an appointment with the surgeon in April. They talked us through the surgery and the choices Madison has with the device. They aren't able to schedule any implant surgeries with the pandemic in effect. Meanwhile Madison needs to get a body scan, and get up to date on vaccinations. The surgeon's office is working with Madison's insurance to tell us where to get those done.
Update on July 15, 2020:
Scans done, vaccinations done, cochlear device picked out and ordered, and insurance pre-authorization approved!! Next step is surgery!! Easier said than done, though. :( They are still working through their COVID backlog, and their turnover is still slower than before because of the extra precautions needed. They can't schedule us at this time, but estimate late September / early October.
Update on July 27, 2020:
Last week we got surprise good news from the surgeon's office: They scheduled Madison for surgery on August 14th!! After that she'll heal for a few weeks and we'll go in so they can activate it on Sept 9th. Then after another week we'll go back in so they can calibrate the sound. At that point Madison still may not be used to it and may not have much improvement to overall hearing (sometimes it takes up to a year) but we'll let you know! Also: We raised about $1,500 outside of GoFundMe so I updated the goal to $5,500. Thanks again for all the support. You guys are amazing!!
Update on August 15, 2020:
Surgery completed!!! Yesterday we got to the medical center at 7am, and at about 1pm we were headed home. The doctor said everything went great and the device was working properly. Madison is resting this weekend and will avoid strenuous activity for about two weeks. The other big update is, we hit our donation goal!!! From the insurance estimates so far it looks like $7,000 is going to be pretty close to the real number for everything after insurance, so I've disabled the donation button. Madison and I want to say another huge thank you to everyone who donated. It means so much to us to have so much support. Love you guys! Thanks again!
My name is Andrew and I'm raising money for my girlfriend Madison to get a cochlear implant. Madison is 23 now, and she has been deaf since she was 15. She currently uses hearing aids but her hearing loss is so severe that her everyday life is very hard, even with hearing aids. A cochlear implant would significantly improve her quality of life. Going to her college classes, or going to the grocery store, or going to a restaurant, or going to a social event in general would no longer have the added stress of not understanding anything anyone is saying. Madison loves nature and she would be able to enjoy the sounds of the birds and the cicadas and the wind.
My goal is to raise for $7,000 for Madison. (Updated to $5,500 on July 27, 2020 since we raised about $1,500 outside of GoFundMe). This will cover the out of pocket costs for her implant and surgery, after insurance. This will include:
-Cochlear implant for one ear (internal)
-Surgery
-Processor (external, same ear, sends signal to Implant)
-Matching hearing aid (other ear, interfaces with Processor)
Who is Madison?
Madison is 23 years old and has lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana her whole life. She is currently studying Ecology at Purdue University Fort Wayne. She plans to go on to get a Masters and a Ph.D. with a focus on environmental restoration or marine mammals, and become a professor.
Madison has had a lot of challenges in her life but she remains the most positive and hardest working person I've ever met. She was hit by a car when riding her bike last year (she flew up over the car and landed on her side) and she limped to class the next day. She doesn't like to ask for help, so I'm asking for her.
Madison's Hearing
Madison was born with normal hearing. In middle school she started to notice her hearing getting worse. By the time she got to high school she was profound deaf in both ears and was also having vertigo attacks frequently, sometimes weekly. She then learned she has Meniere's disease and Sensorineural hearing loss.
Now Madison is 23 and has permanent hearing loss in both ears, with a "ski slope" shape. This means she can hear very low sounds, but can't hear high sounds very much at all. So to Madison, everyone sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher. The audiogram below is from her most recent hearing test, done February 2020.
Update on May 9, 2020:
Madison had an appointment with the surgeon in April. They talked us through the surgery and the choices Madison has with the device. They aren't able to schedule any implant surgeries with the pandemic in effect. Meanwhile Madison needs to get a body scan, and get up to date on vaccinations. The surgeon's office is working with Madison's insurance to tell us where to get those done.
Update on July 15, 2020:
Scans done, vaccinations done, cochlear device picked out and ordered, and insurance pre-authorization approved!! Next step is surgery!! Easier said than done, though. :( They are still working through their COVID backlog, and their turnover is still slower than before because of the extra precautions needed. They can't schedule us at this time, but estimate late September / early October.
Update on July 27, 2020:
Last week we got surprise good news from the surgeon's office: They scheduled Madison for surgery on August 14th!! After that she'll heal for a few weeks and we'll go in so they can activate it on Sept 9th. Then after another week we'll go back in so they can calibrate the sound. At that point Madison still may not be used to it and may not have much improvement to overall hearing (sometimes it takes up to a year) but we'll let you know! Also: We raised about $1,500 outside of GoFundMe so I updated the goal to $5,500. Thanks again for all the support. You guys are amazing!!
Update on August 15, 2020:
Surgery completed!!! Yesterday we got to the medical center at 7am, and at about 1pm we were headed home. The doctor said everything went great and the device was working properly. Madison is resting this weekend and will avoid strenuous activity for about two weeks. The other big update is, we hit our donation goal!!! From the insurance estimates so far it looks like $7,000 is going to be pretty close to the real number for everything after insurance, so I've disabled the donation button. Madison and I want to say another huge thank you to everyone who donated. It means so much to us to have so much support. Love you guys! Thanks again!
Organiser
Madison and Andrew Lehman
Organiser
Fort Wayne, IN