Dubai: When Dubai resident Dominique Michelle Asuncion Villafuerte gave birth for the first time, she had no idea that her daughter was unable to hear her lullabies.
Michelle Grace spent the first two years of her life in complete silence as she suffered from profound hearing loss.
When her grandmother visited the family in Dubai in March 2017, she was the first one to raise the alarm.
“My mum wondered out loud why Michelle wasn’t talking,” Dominique Villafuerte told Gulf News.
Worried that her granddaughter was unable to hear, she began to save up money so that the parents could conduct the necessary tests.
“After conducting some tests we found out that Michelle could not hear,” Villafuerte said.
At that time, Villafuerte was pregnant with her second child. The initial shock was too much to handle for the family but they persevered.
They sought medical help and went for 11 checks before finally deciding to get her a hearing aid. However, that did not seem to help Michelle.
“The hearing aid was placed in March and till June we saw no progress,” Villafuerte said.
After her colleague connected her to the Ministry of Health and Prevention, she not only discovered that People With Determination could receive free check-ups and consultation at Ministry of Health hospitals and clinics, she was also told that the UAE’s Year of Giving campaign could possibly change her daughter’s life.
“The Ministry of Health and Prevention had a ‘Help me hear’ initiative, under which they were providing free surgeries to children who were hard of hearing,” she said.
Speaking to Gulf News, Dr Hussain Abdul Rahman Al Rand, Assistant Undersecretary for Health Centres and Clinic and Public Health at the Ministry of Health and Prevention and Chairman of the Emirates ENT Society, who spearheaded the initiative said: “This initiative was launched after President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced that 2016 would be the Year of Giving. The Ministry of Health and Prevention, in cooperation with Emirates ENT society, did the operation for 10 patients who were expatriates living in the UAE at the Al Qassimi Hospital. This year, as it is the Year of Zayed, we will continue to help those who cannot afford such operations if they meet our requirements.”
The initiative is focused on young children as they would benefit the most from such life-changing surgeries.
Tamer Al Shahat, the Managing Director of MED-EL Middle East, the company that provided the cochlear implants for free and also produced a video on the whole issue, said: “Once implanted, children and adults alike will get an instant sound stimulation. However, the long-term success of the users hearing journey can only be steadied by the commitment of the users and their families to see the rehabilitation process through. What’s more, MED-EL medical Electronics is proud to partner with the Ministry of Health and prevention on raising awareness for the improvement of early hearing loss diagnosis and intervention, and, distinguishing the proper hearing solution to reach the desired benefits.”
While at the moment Michelle is not yet speaking, Villafuerte hopes she will soon be able to talk.
“As a mother it is very painful to be told that your daughter is deaf. Back in the day, being deaf automatically meant that you were also mute. Now that she can hear, with the therapies and medical support, soon she will be hopefully able to call us and tell us ‘I love you’.”
