My name is Francis Gabriel Elayda Academia, 6 years old, full of life and energy. If you see me on the play ground, you’ll think I’m like any other healthy little boy. As you look closer, you’ll notice that unlike other children my age I don’t speak a word and all you can hear is laughter and a lot of strange noises. This is where you find out after asking around that I don’t speak a single word because I’m hearing impaired. To tell you more about me, I was diagnosed with bilateral sensory neural hearing loss when I was one. My mother on a shoestring budget got me the cheapest hearing aid in the market after 3 months from the time a doctor asked her to get me a pair. That hearing aid for my right ear was all we could afford when it should have been for both. At age 3, my mother enrolled me at a special school for the hearing impaired. Since I was behind all my classmates, my teacher has recommended that I first undergo one-on-one speech therapy with a speech pathologist and behavioral modification with an occupational therapist before I can rejoin the group. In spite of getting another hearing aid for my other ear, I had little progress which prompted my therapist to recommend a cochlear implant and high powered hearing aid. This is really impossible at the moment because of the financial obligation we are facing. Because of this, I’m knocking on your door for help. I hope you can lend me a helping hand in this endeavor so I can hear and in the future utter my first word.
Gabriel Elayda is the son of my bestfriend Monica Elayda. He'll be undergoing a cochlear implant this September. He'll be needing more than a million Pesos for the procedure so his relatives organized a fund raising activity (Raffle) for him.
Friends, if you want to extend your help, kindly contact me or my friend.
Cheryll - rnpcag@gmail.com
Monica - +639228981146
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