It's terrible to return to the world of silence

Natalia Gurova has 4 favorite daughters. The two younger daughters have one common problem – a hearing loss. The family does everything possible so that the girls do not feel isolated from the world. Vika wears hearing aids and Sasha got cochlear implantation when she was 4 years old. But for last several months Sasha lives in constant anxiety: the speech processor, the most important part of the implant, has broken down. It was temporarily repaired, but it can fail at any moment. And remaining in the world of silence for only a month causes that Sasha will begin to lose skills of speech that were acquired with such difficulty.

4 years ago Ukrainian Philanthropic Marketplace has already raised funds for hearing aids for Sasha's sister – Vika. With them, the girl learned to speak very quickly and easily. Sasha had everything different: in 2012 she got implants, and only 2 years after the operation the first words began to appear. Two more years - and Sasha came on the stage of simple sentences.

The reasons for that slow recovery are not only in individual features. Unfortunately, in the Dnipro there are simply no sign language educators who would help the hard of hearing children recover. For two years her mother drove Sasha to the Kiev Otolaryngology Institute for special classes. But there was almost no progress. And when the parents were desperate to hear the daughter's full speech, they learned about the Kiev CF "Vidchui". It was there that there were experts who helped their girl to speak.

Anyway, there is still a lot of work ahead. Sasha works hard in class, but her cochlear implant failed this year – the speech processor went out of order. Sasha's mother grabbed her head – without a speech processor, which helps to recognize sounds, the implant is useless. It's enough to live in world of silence for a few weeks – and speech will start to get worse, everything that has been achieved over the years will be brought to nothing. Fortunately, the device was repaired for a while, but for how long it will serve – no one can say. Sasha needs a new processor.

If you ask about Sasha's hobbies, Mom will immediately answer plasticine molding. The girl sculpts almost all her free time. Under her fingers all sorts of animals appear – Sasha loves animals very much. But the contact with the surrounding people is not so good. Sisters and parents – this is the main Sasha’s circle of communication.

The cost of new speech processor is 269 747 UAH. It is expensive. But which of us can evaluate the ability to hear and speak cheaper? In a large family, a lot of money goes for rehabilitation in Kiev, but even not mentioning this, it would be unlikely to save much money for Sasha's parents. Please help Sasha not to lose the opportunity to fully communication!

At UBB we collect part of the required amount.

This project was canceled, the amount collected is 125 309, 65  UAH. The funds were disposed of in accordance with the Rules, Principles, and Procedures of the Ukrainian Philanthropic Marketplace (UBB) International Charitable Fund and the decisions of the Project Donors.

Name: Olexandra Gurova, 17.10.2008

City: Dnipro

Diagnosis: bilateral neurosensory deafness