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New Hearing Aids Campaign

I need new hearing aids to help me be able to sustain a job and to be able to function in my daily life.

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New Hearing Aids Campaign

New Hearing Aids Campaign

New Hearing Aids Campaign

New Hearing Aids Campaign

New Hearing Aids Campaign

I need new hearing aids to help me be able to sustain a job and to be able to function in my daily life.

I need new hearing aids to help me be able to sustain a job and to be able to function in my daily life.

I need new hearing aids to help me be able to sustain a job and to be able to function in my daily life.

I need new hearing aids to help me be able to sustain a job and to be able to function in my daily life.

Taryn McElheran-Crowther
Taryn McElheran-Crowther
Taryn McElheran-Crowther
Taryn McElheran-Crowther
1 Campaign |
Toronto, Canada
$560 USD 11 backers
14% of $4,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

Short Summary

Where do I begin? Looking through all these campaigns at Indiegogo, I feel that many of you may think of this as something that's not as important. And to be honest, I don't blame you. I will however try to win you over as I explain why getting these new hearing aids will benefit my life for the better.

 

My name is Taryn, I am 26-years-old and I have been living with hearing loss for over 21 years. I was first diagnosed after my mom realized that a) I would never answer her when she called and b) I always had the TV on WAY too loud. After a series of tests and two doctors later I was finally told that I had approximately 30% hearing loss in both of my ears. While they were firm on the diagnosis, they were never firm on the cause. Yes I got tubes, they didn't work. While young I can still vividly remember my hospital stay and receiving banana popsicles from the nurses. The only viable explanation was the countlessly painful ear infections that I received (and continue to receive) that caused my eardrums to scar.

Growing up wasn't easy, but living with hearing aids definitely didn't. While they made a world of difference in hearing, it didn't help with the bullying. Because I was deemed "different" from my classmates, children older and even younger than me would call me a "freak" or "weird" because I got special attention in school and had to use an FM system in order to focus on the teacher. It did a number to my self-esteem and even to this day I am still self-concious of my hearing aids and feel that people judge me before they know me - and it doesn't help that the older they get, the uglier and more noticable they become.

I tried to not let it bother me though and I pursued school and my passion of english and writing. I joined the band in high school (participated all four years) and I became a photo editor for the yearbook in my last year and a half of school. I went on to pursue journalism in Toronto and got my Degree and Diploma in Media Studies and Journalism. I graduated in 2009.

Even though I graduated, it has been a troubling process trying to find a full-time job, let alone a job in my field of interest. It's tough and trying and sometimes I just feel like giving up. I currently still live at home with my mom and work part-time at a retail job. While most people say I "have it good", I am needlessly struggling to find myself as an adult. I can barely pay my bills and my student loans on top of my rent I owe to my mother every month. We are in a time of financial struggle and trust me, I'm struggling. Even if I were to get a job in journalism, it'd be a hard road. Interviewing and talking to people is a main part of the job and if I am constantly having to ask them to repeat themselves, it'd be unprofessional and seem as if I am not listening to them.

I am lucky if I get $10,000 a year in salary. Most of my money goes to paying of my debt. I don't live a frivolous , I don't go on trips (in fact the last one I went on was in High School), I don't buy clothes that I could probably use and I definitely don't go out and party all the time. I budget everything and if I don't have the money, I don't get what I need/do what I want. It's tough to see people go about living their lives around me when I can't even afford something as life essential to MY life as being able to purchase hearing aids.

Let me tell you why I'm doing this. I may not be sick and I may not be dying, but I am in desperate need for some new hearing aids that will a) allow me to gain the self-confidence I need to obtain that job that I so desperately need and b) will allow me to hear to the best of my ability. You don't realize how important hearing is until you've lost it. Music is one of my passions and when people ask "would you rather lose your sight or your hearing" I instantly say my sight. A world of silence scares me, and while I can still hear without my hearing aids, it's still quiet enough that I'm not apart of the real world.

For every dollar that you guys contribute, will be a dollar that will go towards new hearing aids and an audiologist exam that will allow me to be fit for proper hearing aids. I get people ask me why I don't just get some cheap hearing aids from the tv ads. And my answer is always that they may be cheap but the quality is poor. They just don't understand that the quality of a proper hearing aid makes all the difference in the world. I'm missing that quality.

 

What We Need & What You Get

In total: two new hearing aids, servicing and batteries will start at $5000.00. With hearing aids being digital, the technology and intensity is increasing and it's causing the prices to rise significantly. They are NOT cheap! The ones I have now are coming up on 8 years old (they're supposed to be replaced every five or so) and their age is showing. I even have to use packing tape to hold them together, which is causing the constant scratching noise on the microphone of the aid and is muffling the sound.

The money would be strictly used towards the audiology test which would determine my hearing loss (to make sure it hasn't changed) and to better understand the type of hearing aids that will be suitable for that loss as well as two new hearing aids.

The great thing about living in the digital age though is the fact that they are becoming smaller and more powerful! While Behind the Ear (BTE) hearing aids are affective when you're a child/teen because you're still growing, the ones that go in the canal of the ear are easier to hide which in turn allow me to build upon my self-confidence. 

If I do not reach my goal, anything that is made in the next 90 days will go strictly into a tax free savings account that will go towards the goal of getting new hearing aids. Being as strapped for money as I am, any little bit will help and I appreciate any contribution you can make. My ultimate and final goal is to allow myself the luxury of being able to hear again.

The Impact

I don't want to make you think that I'm more important then everybody else on here, because I'm not. I just want to be able to live a great life and live it well. I want to be able to look in the mirror and see a beautiful person full of life, not a person who is heeded by a hearing disability. I want people to look at me and say "wow, she really knows what life is about". I feel that because of my lack of self-esteem and lack of funds, I am not allowing myself to live life to it's fullest. 

If I raise more than what I've asked for/what I need, I would like your permission as a whole, to donate the rest of the money to the Hospital for Sick Children, based here in Toronto. From the time I was five up until I was 18 I was a patient at that hospital every year in the ear-eyes-nose-throat ward. I may not have been sick but that hospital was more than familiar to me in so many ways. I want to be able to donate the rest of the money to finding cures to all childhood sicknesses. No child should ever have to go through the pain of a sickness or disability.

Other Ways You Can Help

I completely understand if you are unable to donate but I would appreciate it if you could share this with your co-workers, friends and family. Indiegogo has sharing tools that allow you to spread the word! Social network can be a powerful tool in this day and age!

 

I also just want to thank you for your time and for reading this. 

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Whether it be for a warm cup of coffee, a new book or a movie on a rainy day, I want to be able to give something back to you. Whatever you wish, I'll do my best to get!
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