Fourth Grader And Family Raise Money For Kid's With Hearing Loss
By: Ava-Joye Burnett
Updated: July 30, 2010
HAGERSTOWN, MD - Eight-year-old Michael Kade is a normal fourth grader in every sense of the word; except for one thing.
Michael Made or M.K. has genetic progressive hearing loss. A little after his first birthday, he started losing his ability to hear.
M.K.'s father, Micahel Fotta, says it was a difficult time for the family.
"At about 14 months he started slacking off and would start crying when we left the room," says Fotta.
M.K.'s mother, Kerri Fotta, said the family was devastated.
"We had no other family history of hearing loss, and our main goal in the beginning was to find out why," she says.
The Fottas took M.K. to the listening center at Johns Hopkins, and that's where they met doctor Howard Francis.
Doctor Francis performed the first operation on M.K. just one month shy of his second birthday, putting in a cochlear implant. The device would change M.K.'s life.
"It is what you would call for kids that are born deaf, the birthday of hearing and their birthday of verbal language," says Dr. Howard,
The surgery and device came at a hefty price, and that's why the Fottas organized the second annual golf event, not for their son, but for people who are less fortunate.
Kerri Fotta says it takes months to prepare for the event, but in the end, it's all worth it.
"Just knowing that the money we donate helps a child like our son whose family cannot afford cochlear implant equipment," she says. "It just makes everything worth while."
Doctors have called M.K. the poster child for how well this device works, but the Fottas want to give other kids a shot at a normal life.
The family raised over $4,000 last year, and they hope to double that amount this time around.
Michael Made or M.K. has genetic progressive hearing loss. A little after his first birthday, he started losing his ability to hear.
M.K.'s father, Micahel Fotta, says it was a difficult time for the family.
"At about 14 months he started slacking off and would start crying when we left the room," says Fotta.
M.K.'s mother, Kerri Fotta, said the family was devastated.
"We had no other family history of hearing loss, and our main goal in the beginning was to find out why," she says.
The Fottas took M.K. to the listening center at Johns Hopkins, and that's where they met doctor Howard Francis.
Doctor Francis performed the first operation on M.K. just one month shy of his second birthday, putting in a cochlear implant. The device would change M.K.'s life.
"It is what you would call for kids that are born deaf, the birthday of hearing and their birthday of verbal language," says Dr. Howard,
The surgery and device came at a hefty price, and that's why the Fottas organized the second annual golf event, not for their son, but for people who are less fortunate.
Kerri Fotta says it takes months to prepare for the event, but in the end, it's all worth it.
"Just knowing that the money we donate helps a child like our son whose family cannot afford cochlear implant equipment," she says. "It just makes everything worth while."
Doctors have called M.K. the poster child for how well this device works, but the Fottas want to give other kids a shot at a normal life.
The family raised over $4,000 last year, and they hope to double that amount this time around.
Comments
I think that it is awesome that this family wants to help others. But, I also want to make it perfectly clear those who are deaf by choice or otherwise are also normal. There is no difference between deaf and hearing people except that one hears and the other does not. Deaf people can do everything that we can do. I even have a deaf friend that is a pilot. By the way, I am hearing.
Charley C.
July 31, 2010 at 5:38 pm
