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The new year got off to a busy start for the Hear for Life Trust. Not only has a substantial amount of funds been raised, but an additional two operations have been facilitated through the Trust since January alone.
This has been made possible through the mutually beneficial relationship enjoyed by Hear for Life Trust founding partners, 94.7 Highveld Stereo and the Bidvest Group. Assisting with the vital funding needed to keep the Trust’s coffers full, Bidvest pledged R1-million a year for five years to the Trust.
As this partnership now enters its second year, so Bidvest has made available its second R1-million contribution, making good on its promise and boosting Trust funds substantially.
“To know that someone has been unable to hear one minute and, when the implant is switched on, hears the next; and to know that we have had a hand in making it happen, makes me very Proudly Bidvest,” said Bidvest chief executive, Brian Joffe.
With the help of listeners, 94.7 Highveld Stereo managed to raise more than R800 000 over the past six months – all of which has also been pledged to the Trust.
“In February this year, 94.7 begun its 10 th birthday celebrations with a cruise to the Portuguese islands, hosted by the Rude Awakening breakfast team in conjunction with Nashua Mobile,” explained 94.7 Highveld Stereo station manager, Ravi Naidoo. “We managed to generate R350 000 from the cruise, which we added to the R500 000 already raised through the sale of Darren ‘Whackhead’ Simpson’s Whackhead’s Window on the World CD. This enabled us to donate R850 000 to the Trust in the first three months of the year.”
At the heart of the Trust is the facilitation of vital cochlear implants for people who suffer from severe to profound hearing loss and who have no access to medical aid facilities.
Two successful operations have been carried out since the start of 2007, beginning with 16-year-old Gerhard Pretorius. Gerhard’s deafness was diagnosed when he was just 3-years-old. He started using hearing aids and was eventually accepted into a mainstream school.
Unfortunately, Gerhard’s hearing deteriorated further, with the most powerful aids offering little assistance. This had a severe impact on his schooling and a cochlear implant was identified as the one solution that would allow him to continue his mainstream schooling career.
Gerhard’s operation was performed on 27 February 2007 at the Netcare Linksfield Hospital and his implant activated on 20 March. He has adapted well to the implant, with doctors expecting him to make a good recovery.
Both Gerhard and his family are extremely grateful for the assistance of the Hear for Life Trust and the new lease on life it’s given him.
On the same day that Gerhard was having his cochlear implant activated, so 36-year-old Renier Herrmann was undergoing his implant operation.
Renier was born with normal hearing, but was left severely hearing impaired at 15-months-old, after pulling a teapot of boiling water onto his head. In a heart-wrenching letter to the Hear for Life Trust, Renier told of his hardships in learning to cope with his hearing loss – at a specialised school away from the care of his family – as well as attending a regular college when he was older, where he had to work harder than the other “normals” in his class.
Renier has since married and is the proud father of two children, but living with hearing loss remains a daily challenge.
“No hearing person will ever understand what this feels like,” he wrote. “I have to be the man in the house and protect my family, but at night I cannot even hear the dogs barking or hear if there is any trouble. I have had many job opportunities but also missed many opportunities. There is a lot I’m unable to do, but I am a very positive person, friendly and I know that I’m intelligent. People tend to think if you have a hearing problem that there is a problem with your brain as well.”
Renier went on to outline his hopes, dreams and wishes, all of which he believed could come true if he’d just be given the chance to hear again – something which the Hear for Life Trust hopes to achieve through this operation.
Renier’s implant was activated in mid-April and he is currently undergoing the necessary mapping sessions.
Both Gerhard and Renier’s operations were performed at the Netcare Linksfield Hospital in Johannesburg, where hospital manager, Barry Bedford, offered his staff’s time and services for free. In fact, Netcare Linksfield Hospital has come on board as a Trust partner, offering its services for free for eight cochlear implants per annum.
These two latest operations bring to 10 the number of cochlear implants that have been facilitated through the 94.7 Highveld Stereo and Bidvest Hear for Life Trust since its establishment in December 2005.
There are certain criteria that need to be met in order for a candidate to be considered for a cochlear implant, and for assistance from the Trust. Applicants must have severe to profound hearing loss, with little or no benefit from hearing aids; live in the 94.7 Highveld Stereo listening area (Joburg and surrounds); have no medical aid; and be prepared to work through the Johannesburg Cochlear Implant Programme for surgery and rehabilitation.
A full list of these criteria as well as details of the necessary medical and audiological evaluations that must be performed before consideration, are available on the Hear for Life Trust website (www.hearforlife.co.za).
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