3-year-old Aristotles De Almeida’s inspiring story proves that with early treatment, even children who are born profoundly deaf will be able to hear.
Aristotles’ parents who are residents of Namibia were initially devastated to learn their otherwise healthy baby boy was deaf. “We grieved for his lost opportunities and thought we’d probably never hear him say mummy or daddy”, said Aristotles’ parents.
After multiple visits to doctors in their city, they finally reached an audiologist who explained how cochlear implants could give Aristotles hearing, allowing him to develop his vital language skills. Hearing of this great news, Aristotles’ father began researching for treatment options. “We did our research and knew we couldn’t delay his treatment any further”, he said. Their research pointed them towards India: “We read about so many cases of patients in India receiving cochlear implants successfully. India has the latest technology for ENT specialisation; we decided to give it a shot.” After looking at the options of best hospital for low-cost cochlear implant surgery in India, the family decided to visit Medanta: Multi Super Speciality Hospital in Gurgaon.
Over the years, India has been at the forefront of developing technologically advanced solutions that offer superior hearing performance. In an endeavor to create cutting-edge hearing solutions, ENT specializations around the country have helped bring the gift of sound to more than a quarter of a million people in India and across the world.
Their search for treatment in India led them to Vaidam.com; here they came in contact with a Vaidam Case Manager who through her explanations made the entire process of travelling to India a lot simpler. “Our case manager explained the entire process and also told us to send all the medical examinations carried out in the Namibia.”
With that, the family made their way to India and arrived on the 16th of July at New Delhi airport. Their case manager had made an appointment with Dr KK Handa the day after, so the family got a few days rest before the appointment. “Dr. Handa spoke to us kindly and made us feel that no matter what, everything would be OK. We had to do an auditory brainstem response (ABR) test and a CT scan to verify the amount of hearing loss and check Aristotles’ anatomy if we decided to give him cochlear implants. The ABR revealed him to be profoundly deaf in both ears, but his anatomy was ideal for the implant surgery, recalls Aristotles’ father, the doctor confirmed that my son would indeed need a bilateral cochlear implant. “
Unlike traditional hearing aids that amplify or make sounds louder, a cochlear implant system can be a more effective hearing solution for certain people. A cochlear implant is capable of directly stimulating the cochlear hearing nerve, bypassing the damaged area of the hearing pathway.
A few days later, the family met Dr K K Handa- best Cochlear Implant Doctor in India, to discuss their implant choices and have Aristotles’ last audiology testing done. The very next day three-year-old Aristotles received his cochlear implant surgery. It was about a six-hour surgery and Aristotles had to spend the night at the hospital. The next day, Dr. Handa did a final check on Aristotles’ implants and subsequently discharged the three-year-old. “We are so relieved to be leaving the hospital after a successful surgery”, said Aristotles’ father.
After almost a month in India, the family made their way back to Namibia, “It feels nice to be finally going back home, the healing process has already begun for Aristotles. We look forward to the next few months of challenges to come and are all set to overcome them one at a time.”
Vaidam would like to wish Aristotles a speedy recovery and the family all the best through the challenges of the next few months.