Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Alieu doc made huge difference to my life
Reader response
Our recent front page story about wee Alieu, the young African boy born with no ears whose hopes of coming to Airdrie for life-changing surgery were dashed, provoked a huge response from readers.
None more so than regular Adv e r t i s e r p o e t r y and photography contributor Sandra H. Brown, from Old Monkland.
Sandra struggled to hear since primary school and actually underwent a corrective procedure at Monklands Hospital four years ago. This was carried out by the renowned specialist surgeon who has agreed to treat eight-year-old Alieu if the bureaucratic red tape can be overcame.
Sandra said: “I can relate to Alieu’s plight for, in 2014, Mr Iyer carried out an operation on me.
“I struggled with my hearing since childhood and being at family gatherings proved difficult.
“Wearing a conventional hearing aid didn’t help as I was prone to painful infections. I attended the ENT department for years until I finally met Mr Iyer.
“He offered me an opportunity which changed my life.
“After my operation I attended an award ceremony and was able to hear my name announced in the Usher Hall in Edinburgh in a crowded auditorium. This wouldn’t have been possible before.
“When the BAHA was switched on, the first sound I heard was a blackbird singing. It may sound trivial but in life we tend to take our hearing for granted.
“To have the gift of hearing is wonderful. For a surgeon to bestow a gift to a young child who lives in a silent world would change his life, and a milestone like this would mean so much to him, as it did to me.”
Sandra added: “I really hope the bureaucratic red tape can be overcome to enable Alieu to hear.”
Readers’ letters on page 39.