How one father was willing to travel to another country to help his daughter hear better with the help of Oticon Medical and Ear Community

Raheeg Abdelrahman of Sudan, 4 years old, January 2017 recipient of (2) Oticon Medical Ponto Plus’.

We are excited to introduce you to Raheeg Abdelrahman, a lovely four-year-old girl who lives in Sudan with her younger twin siblings, her mother, and her father Eltahir.  She was born with bilateral Microtia and Atresia, her father said that they couldn’t find a hearing device in Sudan so they traveled two days to Egypt in order to meet with an audiologist who could help them find something to help Raheeg hear.  Sadly, due to no insurance and financial difficulty, the family had to return home without a sound processor.

Through Ear Community’s amazing partnership with Oticon Medical, our organization was able to donate two Ponto Plus hearing devices on January 11, 2017 to Raheeg.  Because Raheeg’s family had to travel two days each way from Sudan to Egypt, it was a very exciting trip for her.  Eltahir said, “Please convey my deepest heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all of Oticon Medical staff for the help and support they provide to everybody in our Ear Community, and special thanks for Mr. Alan Raffauf, Tove Rosenbom, and Claus Frees Horneman…THANKS to YOU dear friends for giving me hope that my daughter can go to school, hearing sounds and practice her life like other kids.  Thank you for making my impossible dream become real!”

When Raheeg was finally fitted for her Ponto Plus devices, she absolutely loved them and showed very good responses.  Her father said, “She can answer our call easily and surely this will help her to receive her lessons like other kids…it is difficult to get words to express my thanks but I say God bless you!”

Ear Community would like to offer special thanks to the entire team that made it possible for Raheeg to hear.  Thank you to Oticon Medical for donating the Ponto Plus devices and for helping make it possible for Raheeg to receive her new hearing devices.  Thank you to Sr. Director for Clinical Research and Training for BAHS, Dr. Tove Rosenbom, for programming Raheeg’s Pontos and for making sure she had everything she needed with them, including extra batteries.  Thank you to Claus Frees Horneman, the Oticon Medical rep who made sure Raheeg’s devices made it to Egypt by hand delivering them!  We would like to thank the donors to the Ear Community Organization who also helped make it possible for Raheeg to receive her hearing devices, including donors who are friends and relatives to the late Curt Gorman and Gabe Murphy who wanted to help a child hear better.

A very special thank you to Alan Raffauf, Vice President of Marketing for Oticon Medical US, for choosing to donate two new Oticon Medical Ponto Plus hearing devices to Ear Community so they could be donated to Raheeg to help her hear better during her early years.   As a tribute to Curt Gorman, Oticon Medical’s past president, who passed away in August of 2015, may Raheeg thrive in the hearing world with her new hearing devices and never miss a beat as she continues to grow.  Curt Gorman had a passion for helping children hear better as he was a pioneer in the hearing device industry, especially for bone anchored hearing devices.   Many who loved and knew Curt have made donations to also help children hear better through the Ear Community Organization.  Thank you for everyone’s support and for helping Ear Community continue with its mission of helping individuals with Microtia and Atresia. Oticon Medical believes in helping individuals with hearing loss so that they can live a better quality of life. Oticon Medical is a well-respected international hearing device manufacturer that is a part of the “William Demant Group [which has] 100-plus years of experience in audiology and sound processing and established manufacturing and logistics infrastructure.”

Raheeg, we are so proud of you and we hope that you have the very best life possible!  We hope that you flourish and grow, especially now that you have access to the sounds you have craved for so long!  We hope to hear how your life continues to improve and progress, congratulations on hearing your best Raheeg!  Here are some adorable pictures of Raheeg with her brand new Ponto Plus’.

Melissa Tumblin
Founder and Executive Director
and Ear Community Board Members
Ear Community Organization
www.EarCommunity.org