Stella: one of my life goals

Dear Monika Lehnhardt, it’s Stella, I’m writing this letter to convey to you my gratitude. I’m really happy to have this chance, this greatest opportunity, honestly I had given up hope by then, but yeah nothing is impossible in this world.

  I went to Gayane for a hearing aid fitting yesterday, here is the photo  ( my mom took it).

 Everything is pretty good, I know all the functions of this model, and I watched a video about how to connect it to my phone, it works great. There are such sayings : “There are no coincidences in this world” and “Nothing happens for no  reason”, many people many relatives think it’s a tragedy I lost my hearing ability, but you know I guess it’s great, I don’t know why, I just feel so, I’m not unhappy about it, of course sometimes it’s uncomfortable, “deafness separate people from people” it’s a fact, but I’m still glad .  I’m also studying sign language. I want to be closer to the world of the deaf, to understand people who have no opportunity to hear, who communicate in sign language, to help them in the future. This is one of my life goals.  So yeah, I’m really thankful, you are a great person, helping people is one of the hardest work, I sincerely wish you all the best that can happen to you

Markosyan StellaMarkosyan Stella

Narrated by Lilit Mkrtchyan, Stella´s Mom.

Markosyan Stella naushniknerov_picmonkeyedHello, my name is Lilit Mkrtchyan, I am Stella’s Mom. I live with my family in Yerevan, Armenia. I have three daughters, Stella is one of the twins. She was born on the 28th of September, 2005 with normal hearing capacity. I felt myself the happiest mother in the world with my 3 daughters and thought that nothing could prevent my happiness as the most important thing in the world is health.
But……
In August, 2008, Stella got ill, she was diagnosed neurotoxicity. The medicine she took for recovering had side effects. After a long way of recovery she started not to react on noises anymore. We took her for other examinations in Arabkir and Erebouni Clinics in Armenia. A disaster after all when she was diagnosed 4th grade sensorineural hearing loss. I couldn’t believe that my lovely daughter became deaf.

Read more

Sirvard MelkonyanSirvard Melkonyan

sirvard Melkonyan Narrated by Armineh Gevorgyan, Sirvard´s Mom

Hello, my name is Armineh Gevorgyan, I am Sirvard Melkonyan’s Mom. We live in Echmiadzin, Armenia.
Sirvard was born on the 13th of April, 2002. When she was 7 months old we noticed that she did not react to noises at all. It was a real shock for our family and we suffered a lot because of the fact that she could be totally deaf. We took her to Erebouni Medical Center and after a long examination we were given the diagnosis, 4th grade sensorineural hearing loss.
There was a solution for our little lovely daughter to overcome her hearing impairment, but unfortunately a very expensive one, a Cochlear Implantation.

Read more

Sergey HarutyunyanSergey Harutyunyan

Narrated by Vadruhi Hovsepyan, Sergey´s mother

Sergey HarutyunyanHello, I am Varduhi Hovsepyan, Sergey Harutyunyan’s mother.
Sergey was born quite healthy, but the basic vaccinations were done not at the right time. Before receiving the last diphtheria vaccine the child had flue, but the doctor did not pay attention and did the vaccination. As a result Sergey’s condition got worse after that. He recovered, but his immune system was very weak and he got permanently ill with flue, which was followed by having a cough.
When he was nine months old he had hard flue and was terribly coughing. He was injected with antibiotic gentamicin, but the dosage was too high for him and as a side effect he suffered from sensorineural hearing loss until it reached 4th grade.
Finally, at the age of five he was cochlear implanted as the only solution to regain hearing. We would have done the implantation much earlier, but the problem, of course, was the financing. Only at this age we managed to find a donor with the help of Erebouni Medical Center in Yerevan, Armenia.

Read more

Liza TeqnejyanLiza Teqnejyan

Narrated by Vadruhi, Liza´s Mom

Liza TeqnejyanHello, my name is Varduhi, I am Liza’s Mom. We live in Nor Hachn Town in Armenia. I am quite excited to write Liza’s story as we met many obstacles on our way to huge success.
Liza is my second child, she has an elder brother who is normally hearing. When Liza was an one year old child we noticed that she didn’t react to noises at all. We took her to Arabkir Paediatric Medical Center where she was diagnosed 4th grade of sensorineural hearing loss. It was a real shock to our family. At that moment we were ready to do everything for our baby girl. We were advised to go to Erebouni Medical Center where we found out about Cochlear implantations. When we were told about the huge amount of money needed for her salvation, first thing that came to our mind was to sell our nice apartment in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, and pay for the Cochlear implantation. We decided not to wait for years until we find a donor for Liza as we were clearly explained about the risks and that her chances of learning to hear and speak could be lost during the time.

Read more

Heghine OhanyanHeghine Ohanyan

Narrated by Heghine Ohanyan

Heghine Ohanyan Hello, my name is Heghine Ohanyan. I was born on the 13th of April in 2004 in the city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia. I had a serious problem, because I was diagnosed 4th grade sensorineural deafness.

I was implanted at the age of 4 in Krasnoyarsk. After the surgery my Mom left me and my Dad. My father took me to Armenia to live with my Granny, whose name, by the way, is also Heghine Ohanyan. Now we live in the town of Vanadzor, in Armenia. I consider her to be my real Mom. She made every effort to give me all the very best in this world. Today, I should thank only her to become a normally hearing child. But I also can’t forget Inessa Harutyunyan, my speech therapist, who taught me to pronounce letters, words, then sentences.

With the help of my Cochlear implant I was able to hear and live as a normal child. I went to the kindergarden. After that I went to a mainstream school. I learn well, get good marks. I love reading and even got several honorary diplomas for great reading at school. In addition to the school I also attend painting lessons which I really enjoy.

Read more

Edgar NersisyanEdgar Nersisyan

Narrated by Edgar Nersisyan

Edgar Nersisyan Hello, I am Edgar Nersisyan from Gyumri, Armenia. I was born on 27.08.1975. I am a musician. A tragedy happened to me when I started to gradually lose the ability of hearing. When I was 32 years old I became completely deaf. For  a man, who worked as a musician and maintained his family it was a real disaster. I started to look for help. In Erebouni Medical Centre, in Yerevan, Armenia, I was diagnosed 4th grade of sensorineural hearing loss. The only salvation for me and for other people with the same diagnosis is Cochlear implantation which costs a lot of money. Because of  lack of finances I had to wait for a whole year until I found a donor for my cochlear implantation. At the age of 33, in 2008  I got an implant with Freedom speech processor.  It helped me a lot to get back to life, to hear the sounds of lovely music again.

Read more

Artyom VardanyanArtyom Vardanyan

Artyom VardanyanNarrated by Marineh Vardanyan, Artyom´s Mom

Hello, my name is Marineh Vardanyan, I am Artyom’s Mom. I live with my family in the town Artashat, in Armenia. My son was born on the 22nd of January, in 2002. At that time there was no hearing screening for newborns, and this was the reason we did not know about Artyom being deaf right after his birth. When he was one and a half years old I noticed that my son was not reacting to noises at all. Immediately we took him to Arabkir paediatric hospital in Yerevan to be examined. Artyom was diagnosed 4th grade sensorineural hearing loss.

Read more

Armine KocharyanArmine Kocharyan

Armineh KocharyanNarrated by Armine Kocharyan
Hello! My name is Armine  Kocharyan from Yerevan, Armenia. I was born in 1986. At the age of three I got hard flue and it was fatal to my life, because it left me with a serious illness called 4th grade sensorineural deafness. The only salvation was a Cochlear implantation, but because of  lack of financial resources I was only Cochlear-implanted at the age of nineteen. Until then I used hearing aids which, of course, helped me, but not too much. So I experienced the clear hearing only after many years with my Cochlear Implant.

Read more