TESTIMONIALS

hrough the sounds and I figured out it was his footsteps on the pavement as he walked. He asked for a snack, it was the first time he had heard the wrapper of a granola bar. As he ate his granola bar, he mentioned how he could hear himself chewing. Other Day 1 sounds were tires on the road, the gurgling of a drink being poured, the tapping of a pencil on the table, and he said my voice sounded lower. All these new sounds and experiences are because Aid the Silent was able to help get hearing aids for Brennen. 

We live in Colorado and it is required for insurance to provide services till 18. However, our insurance is based out of South Carolina— insurance loophole for the win. 

BRENNEN NOW: Brennen is now in 4th grade, homeschooling and loving it. He loves attending church and serving with his dad in the kindergarten classroom every other month. He’s been able to spend a week during summer at Camp IdRaHaJe (I’d rather have Jesus), surf the Great Sand Dunes and attend a coding camp at the Apple store all in confidence that he can hear friends and family and be a part of the whole experience. 

Thank you to the entire team at Aid the Silent for all your hard work you do year-round. You all are amazing! Hoping that next year we can get out to the 5K and/or the Good Vibrations festival. Brennen’s dad and older sister Emma, 15, also wear hearing aids. 

Thank you again from the whole Boeckner Family. Hope you have a blessed Holiday season.” 

- Monique
(Brennan’s mom) 

"Thank you so very much!! If we could scream from the highest mountain how grateful we are for your organization, we would!! We're extremely grateful for the funding provided for Elena's hearing aid. She's progressing beautifully and her excitement for life just motivates everyone surrounding her." - Elena's mama

My name is Melody Macias, I am a mother of five children, and we are a family of seven.  Of my five children two have hearing loss that would be Caleb who is twelve and Noah who is eight years old.

Caleb was diagnosed and aided at three years old, while Noah was diagnosed at birth with sensory neural bilateral hearing loss.

We became a one-income family, as dad wanted me home to care for our children, plus the extensive appointments my children had wouldn’t allow me to have a stable full-time job, and my husband’s job had him working long hours.  This year it was time for my children to get new hearing aids, and I ran into many conflicts with the insurance and hearing aid facilities.  I had to come up with the entire amount for several agencies and others asked for half, being a one-income family that lived paycheck to paycheck, coming up with that large amount was not possible.

I was told about Aid the Silent by my children’s audiologist, I sat with the application for several months in hopes that I would be able to get the insurance to cover my children’s hearing aids. But it was exhausting and finally I applied, the news came a few weeks later that they would not help cover half the cost but the entire amount for both my boys. It was overwhelming that this great organization would help us out in our time of need.

The boys’ hearing aids are not an accessory it is a way of life for them to be connected to our world full of sounds.  And to see the excitement in my Caleb and Noah when they got to pick their colors for their brand-new hearing aids really made me appreciate that an organization such as Aid the Silent exists. But the most moving part of all this was seeing them get their aids and know they had brand new hearing aids-new ears to hear!  They stay connected from the minute they wake up to the minute they lay down; it has become and will always be a part of them. It is a costly thing, but to see my boys faces light up each time to new sounds lets me know the struggles and sacrifices we make are worth it. Both my boys love the outdoors, make the A/B honor roll and enjoy life with sound.

Caleb has been nominated to a leadership program in the 6^th grade, has been camping several times this year, and has a love for drawing. Noah is a social butterfly making friends with everyone, eager to learn, and he loves the outdoors and all things outdoors especially bugs and animals. There are no words to express the gratitude we feel for Aid the Silent and what they have done for our sons. To my sons their hearing aids are a part of them, a part of their body, a way to function, and what keeps them linked with life.  And to lose their aids would be like losing a part of themselves, the desire to hear all noise—from the sound of the trees, to the laughter of a loved one—is cherished by my sons losing that is not an option for us and this organization has helped us continue to give our boys ears to hear and have “sound” adventures every day!

My Cooper received his hearing aids from Aid the Silent about 4 months ago. In 2017, right after his second birthday, he was diagnosed with liver cancer. He went through six rounds of chemotherapy and had a liver resection. One of the chemos he received causes permanent hearing damage. He has moderate-to-severe hearing loss which mainly affected his high frequencies. Since receiving his hearing aids we have heard his language change daily! Being a three-year-old, he doesn't display an observable difference while they are in, however, when they are not in, he constantly says, "What?" or "What did you say?" Those are the "A-ha" moments that tells me what a difference his aides are making in his life. He is attending regular speech classes now and with the help of his hearing aids, his future looks very bright with no long-term problems regarding his speech. Thank you Aid the Silent for everything you've done for Cooper and our family!

"She is so happy. It was amazing to see her hear sounds she never could hear, finally being able to hear her own voice clearly and the sound of cars passing by. I never realized she couldn't hear all those sounds. Thank you so very much for you and this organization. It is a blessing to my family and all others who need you. Thank you.” – Patricia G.

If you could only see her today.  It has been a blessing for sure.  I never knew she couldn't hear certain things that we take advantage of everyday.  The look in her eyes when she hears a new sound she could never hear before.  I took her back to school after getting the hearing aides and I look forward to hearing all her stories tonight.  This is huge.  I am so grateful for everything you have done.  Words just can't describe it.  All day its just been tears of joy for me.  She can hear like everyone else now.  She can eat dinner with us tonight and be able to hear everything we say.  That has never happened.  I have attached her picture with her doctor.

Thank you again,

Misty Izaguirre (Cassie’s mom)

Hello, my name is Angela, and I have two daughters Spirit and Faith. My oldest daughter Spirit is six years old and deaf. With her being deaf we have had to overcome a lot of challenges, including moving from Cincinnati, Ohio to San Antonio, Texas. This was a very big move for us. But Spirit needed the best doctors and community possible.

On this journey of finding a great deaf community, we found Aid the Silent. This wonderful group of people helped us with learning sign language. With the teacher they provided us, we are learning more than ASL—we as a family are learning how to be a PROUD DEAF FAMILY. We are learning to be advocates for the community. We are learning that knowledge I truly is power. ASL is a language of its own. And with a language of its own comes unity and love within a community.

I am proud to be a mother of a beautiful Deaf daughter. I am even more proud that I can teach her that she is beautiful and smart and she can do ALL THINGS through CHRIST who strengthens her. God made her this way and he made her perfect!

Aid the silent showed me this by sharing their community with us. We will be going to our first deaf concert “Good Vibrations Music & Arts Festival” on May 20, 2017.  We will be able to be in fellowship with other deaf families. My daughters will be able to communicate with other children using ASL. Thank You Aid the Silent for opening up our world to greatness!

Our family is blessed to have found the Aid the Silent and that Jhojan was given the opportunity to improve his quality of life, school and day-to-day activities with the hearing aids. He is more focused, responds right away when called upon and we are all so grateful for all your help. Thank you. May God continue to help Aid the Silent bless many more children. – Janet

Brennen got his hearing aids yesterday. He did pretty good for his first day. So far the sounds he is amazed by are: His footsteps on the pavement, the crinkle of a granola wrapper, the car tires on the road, the tapping of a pencil on the tale and the sound of himself chewing. Thank you so much for helping this happen.  We are so grateful.

In preschool Kristopher’s speech therapist raised the concern of abnormal speech sounds she couldn’t explain. The ENT found he had very mild loss. This past fall it started to become clear his hearing issues were not mild. Tests showed he had mild to moderate loss. Health tests show his hearing is moderately severe. Genetic testing was done try to find cause of all his hearing loss. We are still waiting on those test results. He is currently adjusting well to his hearing aids. He is looking forward to camp this summer, thanks for helping make it a reality for him.

I heard about Aid the Silent through an interview with Emma Faye Rudkin. I was so impressed with her and so thankful for an organization to help our hearing impaired kids! When my daughter was about to begin first grade I applied for an FM system. Honestly, I was not even sure that I would be contacted. I was so wrong! Someone from Aid the Silent personally emailed me to make sure our application was complete. A few months later we got the great news that we had been approved for assistance with an FM system! We are so thankful and love seeing how much our daughter loves her FM system. She honestly does adore it. We appreciate you, Aid the Silent.

When I first stumbled upon Aid the Silent, it was to apply for a sponsorship to possibly receive financial help in purchasing technology related to hearing loss. I thought, why not? After submitting the application and upon receiving the first email that my daughter, Harper, was a candidate for a sponsorship, I couldn’t believe what was happening.  Harper, age 4, has bi-lateral moderate hearing loss with difficulties from auditory neuropathy. An FM system, along with hearing aids, allows her to focus and comprehend language in a noisy environment.
Our family is very grateful for the generosity of Aid the Silent and its mission and values.  We are so proud to be receiving a partial sponsorship to purchase an FM system. Harper will now have a greater chance at being successful in communicating with the hearing world in which she lives.”

"I got hearing aids."

Thank you Aid Th Slient

"I am going to Wyld Life Camp"
Thank you Aid The Silent

Sometimes there isn’t a clear purpose to our struggles and the real purpose is to carry our struggles with dignity and grace. Emma Faye Rudkin told me as we sat under the dining hall porch at Young Life camp this past summer. Emma Faye and I have very similar situations, we¹re both deaf/hard of hearing. Although 5% of the population is deaf/hard of hearing it’s very difficult to find other deaf people, and even harder to find ones you relate too.
I knew of Emma Faye before through Aid the Silent, a Christian ministry for the deaf/hard of hearing that Emma Faye founded and I also knew of her through the Miss Texas pageant she competed in. Emma Faye first caught my attention when I watched videos of Aid the Silent promotions because she was around my age and embraced her deafness immensely, something none of the other deaf people I knew did. When I actually met Emma Faye in person the first thing I noticed about her was how content and peaceful she seemed, not just with her deafness but with her life in general. The second thing I noticed was that Emma Faye was a true beauty queen; she was naturally gorgeous but she always had her hair in big curls and full makeup on, including her signature red lip. Even when we went on four mile hikes at camp Emma Faye looked all done up. I also noticed how accepting Emma Faye was of everyone and everything, all week at camp she never left anyone out and immersed herself in all sorts of people. I can truthfully say that Emma Faye is one of the best people I¹ve ever met.
Deaf/hard of hearing people are the third most unreached by the Gospel of God. I personally wouldn’t say I was entirely unreached but they definitely don¹t teach you in church why people have disabilities and no one can or wants to teach you how to ask God the hard questions.
Before I met Emma Faye I had a prayer routine, thank Him, pray for others and then ask Him to tell me the purpose of my deafness. I had an okay relationship with God, but it’s hard feeling like God may not
be listening to me because I wasn¹t getting answers. Then one day everything changed, my mom came home told me that Aid the Silent had offered me a scholarship to go to Young Life camp with a group of teens from Texas I didn¹t know, including Emma Faye. At the time of camp I was very shy and had a fear of mispronouncing something in front of people who didn’t know my situation, so I told my mom that camp didn¹t sound like something for me. I think it was a mixture of God and my mother¹s stubbornness that pushed my mom to make me go to camp and, thankfully, for the next couple weeks my mom spent almost every waking moment convincing me to go to camp. Until one day my mom told me I had no choice in the matter, I was going to camp. I cried and fought with my mom for weeks; my mom would start the fight by making a joke to my friends about me going to deaf camp, I usually followed with a smart comment explaining that I wasn't. This always lead to a screaming where I would state my case that she wanted me to be more like Emma Faye and less like myself. Of all the things that had ever happened to me, I thought being forced to go to camp was the worst.

"I am going to camp"
Thank you Aid The Silent

"I am going to Wyld Life Camp"
Thank you Aid The Silent

My name is Connor. I am 2 years old and have two older brothers.   When I was born, I failed the newborn hearing screening in the hospital. My parents were shocked because hearing loss doesn't run in my family.  After months of testing at 9 months old, I was finally diagnosed with moderate to severe bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. I was fit with hearing aids that day and my parents were told I needed to start going to speech therapy ASAP.  My parents took me for my initial consultation and soon thereafter received a letter from our insurance saying they would not cover my visits. This made my mom and dad very nervous.  They knew I needed this in order for me to have the best possible chance at developing spoken language like my peers. My mom stumbled across Aid the Silent on Facebook and saw where they have a sponsorship program for kids just like me! She applied for assistance to help with the speech therapy costs and thankfully they approved the request!!! My hearing loss recently progressed to a severe to profound level and I became a candidate for a cochlear implant. I was implanted on April 22nd and thanks to Aid the Silent I am able to regularly go to speech therapy to learn how to talk just like my big brothers."

Hello my name is Benjamin Evans and I am 5 years old.  I have three other brothers.  Out of the four of us three of us have a permanent sensorineural hearing loss requiring the use of hearing aids.  My dad and mom knew I would need an FM system to have equal access to hearing in Kindergarten which I will start this fall.  Our insurance doesn’t cover FM systems so my dad and mom were getting a little nervous as to how they would be able to provide me with something I desperately would need come the fall.  My mom stumbled upon Aid the Silent on Instagram and saw that they try to help as many people as they can so that they too could have equal access to hearing.  So my mom filled out an application asking for assistance.  Aid the Silent was quick to respond and so friendly.  We qualified for them to help me!!!!  I am getting an FM system through Aid the Silent and I couldn’t be any more happy!!  Thank you Aid the Silent for everything you do.

"I am going to Wyld Life Camp"
Thank you Aid The Silent