WITH help from generous donors from all over the world, Kristiaan Coetzer (4) from St Francis Bay who was born prematurely and as a result had trouble hearing and speaking is now able to hear clearly after receiving his long–awaited bilateral hearing aids.
Born at just 29 weeks and weighing 1.2kg, Kristiaan spent at least one month in the neonatal intensive care unit as he had trouble breathing on his own.
During his hospital stay he had multiple blood transfusions and a lung infection.
Despite experiencing so many challenges as an infant, Kristiaan fought each battle and is now a happy and healthy little boy.
His premature birth did, however, influence his ability to hear and speak clearly.
Kristiaan’s mother Lilani Coetzee who is a single mother of two and works as an administrator said her son has had poor speech from a very young age, but she initially did not think it was a problem as she believed all children had their own way of communicating.
“I was told that most premature babies took some time to catch up to other children their age so I thought it was normal that he could not communicate clearly. I did, however, have a feeling that something was wrong, but I did not know what it was,” said Lilani.
Earlier this year, upon doing tests Kristiaan’s audiologist, Doctor Kelly Schroeder discovered that he presented with mild to moderate hearing loss in his right ear and moderate to moderately severe hearing loss in his left ear.
To raise funds to cover the cost of the bilateral hearing aids and extensive speech therapy that Kristiaan needed to hear and speak clearly, Lilani who does not have medical aid said she launched a crowd–funding campaign on the BackaBuddy platform two months ago.
To her surprise, generous donors from across the world contributed an amount which totalled R 50 000 towards the crowd–funding campaign which she has used to pay for outstanding medical bills.
In addition, she received R 40 000 offline from an anonymous donor which was used to pay for the bilateral hearing aids.
“I would like to say thank you to each person for their support. I wish I could explain how much all the support means to me,” said Lilani.
“When Kristiaan first received his hearing aids he was very quiet and shy. He was hiding behind my back and listening to all the new sounds he heard. He still battles to keep them on, but the doctor said it would take a while for him to get used to wearing hearing aids.”
Since Kristiaan received his hearing aids in November he has been receiving speech therapy twice a week in Port Elizabeth and has regular appointments with the neurologist and audiologist.
Lilani said paying for fuel to travel to Port Elizabeth for Kristiaan’s various appointments has been expensive and she therefore would appreciate any fund raising ideas to cover their travelling costs.
“The road ahead will be long and has many challenges, but with God on our side everything will be okay, and I know that my son will also be okay,” said Lilani.
