Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Upgrades

Cochlear Americas has just released their newest cochlear implant, the Nucleus 6. Aidan currently has the Nucleus Freedom. His current implants are great, he hears well from them, however the Nucleus 6 overs better sound quality, which will give him better access to speech. It is also about 1/2 the size of his current implant, which means he will have less ear discomfort. I have spoken to my insurance through work and they specifically exclude implants and hearing aids. However, his NC medicaid will cover them. The only issue is that they are only saying they will replace/upgrade the right side and that we will need to wait at least a year before they will think about replacing/upgrading the left side. The problem with that though is the fact that these implants are very different, he would hear better in one ear, whereas we want him hearing equally out of both ears. He also uses an FM system at school and the implant he has now and the upgrade requires 2 different FM systems which is nearly impossible to do. Add in the fact that we would really like him to have this upgrade because it does offer better sound quality, we are hoping to raise the money necessary so that we can buy it out of pocket now, rather than wait another year. This is the link to the implant we are wanting to get for him http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/intl/home/discover/cochlear-implants/the-nucleus-6-system-/ Currently, the price is approximately 10,000$ out of pocket for this upgrade. It is our hope that we can raise the money with the help of our friends and family to provide this new technology. If you are interested in donating, you can do so through paypal which I have set up a fund for him. You should see a DONATE NOW button on my page that will allow you to donate using a credit card/debit card. We appreciate all that everyone has done for us and look forward to raising the money to fund his new ears!

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