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The joy of having a child is, definitely, one of the happiest feelings in the world. We were blessed with our only child, Avyukth, in August 2015. As parents, we were so excited to have our first child in the family. My child like any other normal child had successfully crossed the various developmental milestones like balancing, crawling, sitting and then walking. But, just 30 months after his birth, we suddenly realized that he was not responding to most of the sounds. As a precautionary measure we visited an ENT doctor in our native to examine him and assess the nature of problem that is impairing his hearing. The Doctor performed some preliminary tests and advised to get a BERA (Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry) test done with an Audiologist.
The results were truly heart breaking for us. Our child could barely hear anything at all. We thought that the world had been snatched away from him. We didn’t have much reason to believe that Avyukth had any hearing deficiency as he would respond and react to some sounds at home. We were told that both his ears weren’t functioning, and he had been completely deaf since birth. This was very disturbing and suddenly we felt as if our world was tilted upside down.
The reports suggested the hearing loss was more than 90% in both the ears. As requested by the audiologist we bought hearing aids and tried for close to 3 months to see if they were of any help to my child. But this exercise also went into vain and it was not at all beneficial to the child given that he was suffering from severe to profound hearing loss.
So for a final opinion we traveled to Chennai to get him examined under a renowned ENT specialist Dr. Mohan Kameswaran. He heads the Madras ENT Research Foundation (MERF) and had given hearing assistance to millions of children across the globe. We had our scheduled appointment with him on 28- Aug – 2018. Post his physical examination of the child and battery of clinical tests which included thorough blood test, MRI of the ear, CT scan, Audiometric test, OAE test and BERA test, he met us again on 30th August 2018 for another review.
Dr. Mohan took time and reviewed all the reports in detail and concluded that Avyukth has to undergo Cochlear Implanton both ears and this should be done at the earliest as the child has recently completed 3 years and development of the child will continue to be impaired if not re-mediated. He then directed us to the team for a detailed Cochlear Implant counseling.
The team of doctors explained the process of Cochlear implant where 2 internal devices with electrodes will be implanted in the skull for both the ears and will be connected with external device. They briefed us about the pros and cons and had handed over the cost of the device and the charges for the surgery.
Upon seeing the total cost of the entire procedure, my life has come to a standstill. The total cost would come to a whopping Rs. 33 lakhs approximately. Given the huge amount it was nearly impossible for me to make arrangement of such huge funds. I checked with banks to see if there are any financing options but none of them were of any help to us. All the banks were trying to sell their personal loans and that too at exorbitant rates beyond the reach of a common man.
Given the huge cost of the surgery and since there is no way I can afford it, would like to seek assistance from you all to help me come out of difficult situation
The results were truly heart breaking for us. Our child could barely hear anything at all. We thought that the world had been snatched away from him. We didn’t have much reason to believe that Avyukth had any hearing deficiency as he would respond and react to some sounds at home. We were told that both his ears weren’t functioning, and he had been completely deaf since birth. This was very disturbing and suddenly we felt as if our world was tilted upside down.
The reports suggested the hearing loss was more than 90% in both the ears. As requested by the audiologist we bought hearing aids and tried for close to 3 months to see if they were of any help to my child. But this exercise also went into vain and it was not at all beneficial to the child given that he was suffering from severe to profound hearing loss.
So for a final opinion we traveled to Chennai to get him examined under a renowned ENT specialist Dr. Mohan Kameswaran. He heads the Madras ENT Research Foundation (MERF) and had given hearing assistance to millions of children across the globe. We had our scheduled appointment with him on 28- Aug – 2018. Post his physical examination of the child and battery of clinical tests which included thorough blood test, MRI of the ear, CT scan, Audiometric test, OAE test and BERA test, he met us again on 30th August 2018 for another review.
Dr. Mohan took time and reviewed all the reports in detail and concluded that Avyukth has to undergo Cochlear Implanton both ears and this should be done at the earliest as the child has recently completed 3 years and development of the child will continue to be impaired if not re-mediated. He then directed us to the team for a detailed Cochlear Implant counseling.
The team of doctors explained the process of Cochlear implant where 2 internal devices with electrodes will be implanted in the skull for both the ears and will be connected with external device. They briefed us about the pros and cons and had handed over the cost of the device and the charges for the surgery.
Upon seeing the total cost of the entire procedure, my life has come to a standstill. The total cost would come to a whopping Rs. 33 lakhs approximately. Given the huge amount it was nearly impossible for me to make arrangement of such huge funds. I checked with banks to see if there are any financing options but none of them were of any help to us. All the banks were trying to sell their personal loans and that too at exorbitant rates beyond the reach of a common man.
Given the huge cost of the surgery and since there is no way I can afford it, would like to seek assistance from you all to help me come out of difficult situation
