Kniazev Vladislav
Diagnosis of the child
sensorineural hearing loss, grade IV
Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is a type of hearing loss, or deafness, in which the root cause lies in the damage of sound-perceiving apparatus.
The purpose of the collection
purchase of cochlear implant
History of the child
Vladislav was born on December 24, 2014. In the first month of life the boy was diagnosed with a terrible disease – cystic fibrosis. This is a rare and serious genetic disease.
Certain changes are resulting from the disease progression,that are destroying the body. In Belarus, some actions are taken to improve the quality of life of patients suffering from cystic fibrosis. Partially medications are issued by the State for free. However, that doesn’t go far enough. The family of the boy has managed to find money for some vitally important medications, standard home therapy equipment set and special nutrition.
Vladislav is not 3 years old yet, however, he has already had 4 operations. The first intestine operation was performed on the second day of his life, but despite the operation his intestine did not begin to work. This was followed by two months of intensive care and two other operations.
Constant searching for rare and expensive medications, endless pills, injections, drop counters, intensive care… All of this was just to rest for a few months until the next aggravation.
“And so we’ve just learned how to live, winning days, months, and years, but new trouble has come.
At the age of 2.5 years Vladislav was diagnosed with another serious disease – chronic bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, possibly provoked by aggressive antibiotic therapy which was necessary for cystic fibrosis.
For 5 months Vladislav wears high-power hearing aids Oticon Sensei Pro SP. Our son has started to learn the auditory sense at specialized state centers and with assistance of a private tutor-surdopedagogist. Unfortunately, with such grad of hearing loss, the hearing aids are not effective; so these sessions do not give any results. Vladislav continues to live in silence and, as a result, still cannot learn to speak”.
However, he has still the chance to hear the most wonderful sounds of life. The cochlear implantation operation can be this chance for Vladislav. The main point of this operation is an “artificial ear” which will be implanted to the baby: electrodes connected to a special device (a cochlear implant) will be inserted into the cochlea, these electrodes will stimulate the auditory nerve instead of the non-functioning ear and will enable the child to hear.
The specialists of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Otorhinolaryngology in Minsk are able to perform this operation for free, but the cochlear implant shall be purchased at our own expense. The price of the implant is 21860 Euro.
“The cochlear implantation must be performed urgently, because a benign outcome is expected only if the child has been operated before the age of 3. Our family has spent all financial resources, we have just no possibility to pay for the cochlear implantation system that Vladislav needs. We only hope on help from kind and understanding people so that Vladislav could get a chance to hear the voice of his mother and to pronounce his first words”.