Let’s help Veronika to hear

"Ma-ma, ba-ba, pa-pa", that’s all that 5-year-old Veronika can say. She almost cannot hear or speak. She has the fourth degree of hearing loss, practically deafness. The family was shocked by this diagnosis when she turned two years. A healthy, active and cheerful girl suddenly began to lag behind in development. Since then, her struggle for each sound and each syllable has begun. Hearing aids were installed for Veronika.

She went to the kindergarten. There she had her first successes. And suddenly she received another blow: leukemia.
She was hospitalized at the oncology department. She was fighting for life. Hearing problems were left in the background. The most important thing was to survive. After six months the disease retreated. Medical tests produced better results. Veronika was discharged home where she was receiving supporting pill chemotherapy.

At home, the family began to work on hearing and speech problems again. It turned out that strong drugs influenced her health as one ear got even worse. And those first hearing aids that had been installed didn’t help any more. Veronika is in line for cochlear implantation from the state procurement. This is a modern method that allows restoring hearing even for completely deaf people. However, now a complex surgery cannot be performed before completing leukemia treatment. It will take at least a year. This time shapes her future as she has to get prepared for cochlear implantation. For it, he needs modern powerful hearing aids. And she needs them as soon as possible.

The price of the aids is 60 000 UAH. The family who has been treating cancer for a year cannot find this amount. Please, give Veronika a chance to hear and to speak.

Name: Veronika Andriashchenko, 17.10.2013

City: Kramatorsk, Donetsk region

Diagnosis: bilateral neurosensory hearing loss