10,000 Ear Wishes

I have started this blog in hopes of raising $10,000 to cover the costs of a prosthetic ear for our daughter Elizabeth.

Elizabeth is an amazing little girl that brightens any room with her smile and quirky little laugh. She is a smart girl and surprises us with her imagination and eagerness to learn. She is the best daughter anyone could ask for and reminds me that we will be best friends forever and ever.

On January 13, 2005 we were blessed with the most beautiful little girl. Elizabeth was a fighter from the beginning! At 11 weeks during my pregnancy I had to go in for an ultrasound due to some spotting and we found out that she had an abdominal wall defect called an ompahlocele (warning: the link contains graphic pictures of an ompahlocele). If you decide to click on the link you will see a little boy, Zack, that had an ompahlocele very similar to Elizabeth's and hers was reduced and repaired the same way, at age 18 months. Omphalocele babies are often born with something extra and Elizabeth's "extra" was Microtia Atresia with Hemi-Facial Microsomia. This basically means that her right ear did not form correctly (microtia) and that she does not have a canal (atresia) and that the lower half of her right side of her face is underdeveloped and does not grow normally (hemi-facial microsomia). Elizabeth was born a month early and spent 31 days in the NICU at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas.

There are several surgical options to correct the appearance of the outer ear including something called rib-graft and medpor. Reconstructive surgery does not always work as there could be rejection of the implant. There is also the appearance of the ear with rib-graft and medpor, they do not always look the best. The canal can also possibly be opened, if all of the inner bones line up correctly. Children with HFM (hemi-facial microsomia) are less likely to be candidates for canal repair. Then there is the prosthetic route. We have thought about what would be best for Elizabeth. At this time we feel that the prosthetic would be best. We think that we should let her decide later if she would want the reconstructive surgery. Elizabeth could also decide to do a jaw surgery later in life to re-align the lower part of the face.

Robert Barron does amazing prosthetic work and he is the one we hope to be able to make Elizabeth an ear. Here is an amazing slide show about a little girl with microtia and her new ear created by Robert Barron. Elizabeth will be starting school soon and we all know that kids can sometimes not be the nicest about differences. We hope that with the prosthetic Elizabeth will be spared from the stares, questions and being made fun of. Although Elizabeth knows there is a difference between her two ears she does not realize that she is different. She knows that she can't wear sunglasses because the won't stay up and she knows she can't wear ear plugs on her right side. She can't wear the cool 3-D glasses because they just fall off. Like in the slide show of Madison I would love to see Elizabeth being able to wear that pair of Tinkerbell sunglasses she wants.

We currently have no insurance so we will have to cover the cost of the prosthetic as well as travel costs 100%. I hope that through the kindness of other people's hearts we can find 10,000 ear wishes for Elizabeth. I will have a PayPal donate button where anyone who would like to send Elizabeth an ear wish may do so. If you send send an ear wish please include your e-mail address and name so that we may thank you.

I will also be doing anything and everything to raise funds by way of saving, crafting and selling stuff on e-bay and keeping the page updated on funds raised.