Archives for June 2025

Meet Daxon! Daxon is five years old and was born with unilateral microtia and aural atresia and lives in New Brunswick, Canada! He is one of the many children who was born during Covid-19. To Daxon’s parent’s surprise, he was born without his right ear. Even though Daxon is your typical five year old who is full of energy, he has been struggling with his hearing over the years.

When Daxon’s mom, Felicia, learned more about his conductive hearing loss, she realized he was struggling to hear. At the time, he was able to receive a loaner bone anchored hearing aid (Baha) from their audiologist when he was just a couple of years of old, but had to return the loaner device after so many months. While Felicia watched Daxon thrive with his loaner Baha, she knew she had to obtain one for him that could be his own. Daxon was then able to receive another loaner device for a few months when he was in preschool and she saw how he would ask for his Baha in the morning before school and how he had developed a routine wearing it. Felicia said “…he would ask for it and wear it proudly.” Felicia then began the process to obtain a Baha through her healthcare provider with her audiology department. To her surprise, she discovered that a Baha was going to cost nearly $6,000.00 CAD. She also learned that her insurance provider would not cover a hearing device for Daxon at this time and only covers (1) surgically implanted device in a lifetime in their province.

After realizing that Daxon wasn’t going to be able to obtain a Baha through their insurance, she and her audiologist, Dr. Chantale Melanson, found our Ear Community Organization with Ear Community’s Board of Directors voting to help Daxon receive the gift of hearing. On June 12th, 2025, Daxon was fitted with his new Baha 6 Max from Cochlear Americas donated through our Ear Community Organization. Thank you to Dr. Melanson of The Moncton Hospital for donating her time and services to program Daxon’s new Baha! Thank you to Daxon’s mom, Felicia, for endlessly advocating to help her son hear! A special thank you to Keesha Pfeiffer, Manager Health Policy Strategy and Advocacy, at Cochlear Americas, for helping Daxon receive this gift of hearing so he can #Hear Now And Always! This request to help Daxon means a lot to Keesha as her son also has microtia and atresia and she has helped our Ear Community Organization for many years with these requests to help children and adults hear! Thank you for helping us with this opportunity for Daxon! “Cochlear is the global leader in implantable hearing solutions, and has provided more than 750,000 implantable devices – more than any other company – helping people of all ages to hear and connect with life’s opportunities.” Since 2011, Cochlear Americas is a proud Platinum Sponsor to the Ear Community Organization, helping the microtia and atresia community. Thank you Cochlear Americas for being a leading company behind the hearing device technology that helps children like Luis benefit when it comes to restoring hearing loss! Children and adults with microtia and atresia can only benefit from the use of a bone conduction hearing device because of specific related conductive hearing loss.

Thank you to everyone for coming together to help Daxon hear his best and to help make hearing possible for him because of the amazing advocates in his corner! We are happy for Daxon to be able to hear so much better! Daxon sure is a cutie! Here are some great pictures from his fitting!

Melissa Tumblin
Founder – Executive Director
Ear Community

Meet Luis! Luis was born with bilateral microtia and atresia and lives in North Carolina. He’s your typical fun loving five year old who loves school! Luis’ mom, Obdulia, has made sure he’s had the help he needs at school through IEP services and help from his school therapists who work with him everyday to develop his language skills. However, Luis begun struggling with his hearing lately in the classroom and at home due to his bilateral hearing loss.

Obdulia realized Luis seemed to be missing out on a lot more than usual during conversations. She decided to get his hearing tested last year. When meeting with their audiologist, Dr. Ashleigh Starnes of Atrium Health, Obdulia was educated about a hearing device available called a bone anchored hearing system or a BAHS that could help Luis hear better! Obdulia and Luis were excited about obtaining a BAHS and began the process for a bone anchored hearing device. Unfortunately, Luis’ mom also discovered the challenge of trying to obtain this hearing device for Luis after realizing they could not afford this hearing device, let alone two hearing devices so he could have one for each ear to help him hear his best.

While waiting to hear back from Medicaid to see if a BAHS could qualify for coverage, Luis’ family sadly became one of the many families who were victims of Hurricane Helene in the Western Area of North Carolina. Still recovering and working hard to pick up the pieces from this disaster, the family did hear back from Medicaid, but unfortunately Luis was denied coverage and the access to obtain a bone anchored hearing device.

Finally, Luis and his family found some hope for him to hear better trying to find other resources! Obdulia took a chance and was directed to NC Beginnings, a helpful resource in their area where they were connected with Gheydis Paredes, a Parent Educator Bilingual Spanish interpreter. Gheydis began helping Obdulia look for other resources that could maybe help Luis hear by obtaining a hearing device. Together, Gheydis and Dr. Starnes found the Ear Community Organization and applied for Luis to obtain a hearing device!

On May 21st, Luis received the gift of hearing with two Baha 6 Max bone conduction hearing devices! The smile on his face shows how happy he is wearing his bone anchored hearing devices! If it were not for Gheydis Paredes understanding the need for Luis to be able to hear and realizing how much his family was struggling, Luis wouldn’t be able to hear today! Thank you for reaching out to our Ear Community Organization to help Luis! A special thank you to Dr. Starnes for donating her time and services to fit and program both of Luis’ new Baha 6 Max hearing devices from Cochlear Americas! Gheydis says, “She is seeing the progress Luis has made already with his Baha devices, which is incredible! I can only imagine the possibilities he will have now!” Dr. Starnes is grateful for being able to help give the gift of hearing to Luis and that she is “So happy to see Luis benefit from binaural hearing thanks to both Baha devices!”

A special thank you to Keesha Pfeiffer, Manager of Health Policy Strategy and Advocacy at Cochlear Americas, for making sure Luis received his two Baha 6 Max bone conduction hearing devices and for helping us with processing this gift of hearing! This request to help Luis means a lot to Keesha as her son also has microtia and atresia and she has helped our Ear Community Organization for many years with these requests to help children and adults #Hear Now and Always! Thank you for helping us with this opportunity for Luis! “Cochlear is the global leader in implantable hearing solutions, and has provided more than 750,000 implantable devices – more than any other company – helping people of all ages to hear and connect with life’s opportunities.” Since 2011, Cochlear Americas is a proud Platinum Sponsor to the Ear Community Organization, helping the microtia and atresia community. Thank you Cochlear Americas for being a leading company behind the hearing device technology that helps children like Luis benefit when it comes to restoring hearing loss! Children and adults with microtia and atresia can only benefit from the use of a bone conduction hearing device because of specific related conductive hearing loss.

It is always wonderful when so many organizations can come together to help someone in need! This is what community is all about! The Ear Community Organization is so happy to have helped Luis receive the gift of hearing! Our organization is grateful for our Sponsors like Cochlear Americas and our donors for helping make struggles like this turn into a happy solution! We are looking forward to hearing how Luis continues to thrive in school and outside of the classroom with his new Bahas! Thank you again to Dr. Ashleigh Starnes at Atrium Health, Gheydis Paredes at NC Beginnings, Kesha Pfeiffer at Cochlear Americas and the Ear Community Organization! Most of all, thank you to Luis’ mom, Obdulia and family, for never giving up on Luis and for helping him find the hearing he needs!
Melissa Tumblin
Founder – Executive Director
Ear Community