Chip Chick
Carmel, Indiana. Meet Bennett. Bennett looks different than your typical two ½-year-old rambunctious boys. But he’s not much different at all.
He has a craniofacial difference (abnormality of the face and or the head) from a Hemifacial Microsomia or (HFM), which is a condition you are born with where the tissue on one side of the face are underdeveloped.
More specifically, he has Microtia, where the ear does not develop properly, causing a child’s ear to be small, malformed, or missing.
Most people have never heard of Microtia. However, it affects about one in every 6,000 to 12,000 babies worldwide, with about 500 from the United States.
The condition is seen more frequently in boys than girls, and more than 90% of children with microtia have conductive hearing loss.
Bennett has one little ear and one big ear. He’s deaf on his left side but can hear just fine on the right.
He wears a hearing aid to help him locate the source of sounds. He is a prime candidate for Porous Implant Ear Reconstruction surgery.
Dr. Sheryl Lewin, a mother and Craniofacial trained, board-certified Plastic Surgeon, will perform the surgery.
GoFundMe; pictured above is Bennett
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