Hello! We would like to tell you our daughter's story she has gone through thus far in her short life. Her name is Amisha. She was born with a rare birth defect called Microtia. In appearance, microtia just looks like the person is missing one or both ears. What they do not see is the potential damage to the kidneys and heart that can come from this defect. During fetal development, the ears and kidneys develop at the same time. The heart has already started developing before this, but can still be affected by microtia.

Living in a smaller town, we knew little of her condition other than the physical aspect. She was missing her right ear, and her head was deformed because of that. At 6 months old, she was diagnosed with Torticollis because of the microtia. Torticollis is the condition when the patient tilts his or her head to one side. Her physical therapist said it was because one neck muscle was shorter than the other and excersize would help. We were happy with that and went on doing her excersizes at home.

During the six months after that, we started to see specialists about 6 hours away that knew more about her condition. They were knowledgable and we were told a lot of information about microtia. We also were told that she needed a special piece of equipment called a Doc Band immediatly. That is a device that dramatically reshapes the skull. It gets fitted at the Children's Hospital for her. After the initial moulding, we have to travel back again once a week for 6 weeks to get her fittings adjusted. After the 6 weeks, it's once every 2 weeks for 8 weeks. That's 11 trips at 12 hours a trip within 4 months, during the cold Canadian winter. This device is not covered under our health care and cost about $3000, plus the trips ,hotels, and missed wages from work as all of our holiday days were used up with specialist appointments.

Amisha also has had other issues pop up. At the age of 6 months she had a seizure and she was put on antibiotics because of it. There is a chance that antibiotics can damage hearing, that is why we started getting her hearing checked every month. She was also sent for an MRI where they found she had a tethered spinal cord. The spinal cord is supposed to move freely within the spinal column. If there is any reason that the cord can not move freely, it is tethered.

She had the operation to remove tissue around the spinal cord the morning of July 31, 2007. She was in the hospital for a week and was still not comfortable with the pain, even though she was on morphine along with other medications. Shortly after we got home, there was some swelling around the cut. They suspect that it is some leakage of spinal fluid. We are currently waiting for an appointment for another MRI to make sure she is healing correctly inside.

We still see the specialists regularly, as well as others that only require us to travel 3 hours each way to test her hearing once a month.

There are many well qualified doctors that we have heard about in North America that can perform the physical reconstruction of the ear, but there are a few that stood out. In November 2005, we had an oportunity to fly to New York and attend a conference with arguably the best US plastic surgeon for ear reconstruction, as well as another brilliant surgeon that performs a different surgery for microtia patients. He Actually aligns the inner bones, creates an ear drum and a canal. Once done, the patient can hear out of that ear! Keeping in mind that it is not even close to 100% hearing, recognizing sound coming from a certain direction helps safty and classroom performance.

We are currently still travelling back and forth to Calgary, Alberta, Children's Hospital for Amisha's treatments and procedures. She is undergoing several tests. And will have surgery soon again. She will need jaw distraction as her right side of her mouth is not alined,due to her ear missing. While on these trips, we are both missing work, often without pay. So while we are trying to get Amisha what shes needs done now, we made this website in hope to get help to raise the money for her Ear surgeries.

We are currently raising money for Amisha's surgeries. The first stage of her ear reconstruction will be done in December of 2009. She has to be 6yrs old for her rib to be the right size to take out of her to create the ear she is missing. The first stage of the surgery cost is Approx $30,000 US dollars. The second which will be done within 3 months of the first stage and is, approx $15.000 US. The third and fourth stages cost depend on how much needs to be done. This does not include travel. All these costs will be out of our pocket. If you can help out in any way, please contact us or donate. If you can't donate, all we ask is you keep Amisha in your prayers! She has gone thru alot in her 4yrs of life, spending lots of time in hospitals, and we as parents are just trying to give her the happiness that she deserves, and a chance of having a normal life! Thank you!

That is, in VERY short format, the story for Amisha. If you have any questions, please email me at veena@hockridge.ca. Thank you!