On Monday, December 16th, we celebrated 12 wonderful individuals from Sacramento and gifted them the power of better hearing. Our recipients are those who have come to us for help and might have trouble affording the type of hearing aids that truly would help them. Hearing aids range from $500 to $5,000 and often times the difference can be profound, especially for someone with moderate to severe hearing loss.
This was our 10th Annual “12 Days of Christmas” mission and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, as people who were living a life of frustration were given a new lease on hearing well, something that deeply impacts the recipient, but those around them who love and want to see them succeed.
Here are some of those stories
NOMINATED BY A LOVED ONE:
One of the recipients of the 12 Days of Christmas was selected because of his mother watching Good Day Sacramento. For two years in a row, she realized she had missed the chance to write in and ask for hearing help for her son, Robert who recently got engaged. But this year, this mother and Good Day Sacramento viewer wrote a beautiful letter where she talks about the negative impact of untreated hearing loss. Her son’s life is about to change…not only will he be able to hear better BUT his whole world will open up to him, especially professionally and socially!
THE EXHAUSTION OF HEARING LOSS:
Another one of our recipients is another ROBERT, who is still working to make ends meet at the age of 69. His UNDERtreated hearing loss makes it extremely difficult and frustrating to work. So we’ll be fitting him with more sophisticated hearing aids that will help him to relax and let the conversation come to him instead of having to work so hard to figure out what people are saying. He tells a heart touching story of the impact of his hearing loss on his life. “I’ve done physical labor in my life but it’s way more exhausting when you can’t understand because of hearing loss.”
THE FATHER:
This recipient is a father of two young boys and has lived with profound hearing loss since he was young. While frustrations are commonplace, Ben has retained an exuberant and happy persona, living with his lovely wife and two young sons (4 & 1). Not being able to hear clearly at home can diminish the joys of fatherhood and frustrate a relationship that requires so much communication to do well. Ben received an upgrade in his hearing aids to give him those chances at hearing well.