“My Son Would Never Be Able to Have Fully Functioning Hearing Without This Help”: 7-Year-Old Viktor From Mykolaiv Received Modern Hearing Aids From the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

Viktor was born a healthy boy, but at the age of three he suffered a severe infectious disease. His mum noticed that her son asked to repeat what was said and did not always understand what was being said to him. The cause was discovered only during an operation to remove his adenoids. The surgeon explained that Viktor had a damaged nerve and that he would never be able to fully hear. Special hearing devices were needed. Recently, the seven-year-old boy from Mykolaiv received ultra-modern hearing aids from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, which are adjusted to the child’s individual needs.

According to Olha, the boy’s mother, the operation was scheduled for the end of February 2022. However, they had to postpone it because of the war. Mykolaiv was brutally shelled by the enemy and the family moved to Ternopil. There, Viktor was operated on, and the doctors explained why the hearing aids were needed. Olha was shocked: the devices were not cheap, while she lived with her two children and her parents with disabilities in a strange city on social benefits for displaced persons...

“It was a blow. We were away from home, my child…, and the war... While the child’s health is the most important thing for a mother. I accidentally came across an article about the help from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation to children who have similar problems. We are a low-income family, and in today’s reality, it was impossible for us to find money for the hearing aids. That is why this help is very important for us. I want to thank the Foundation from the bottom of my heart. I am profoundly grateful for what you do for people,” says Olha.

Hearing specialist Vladyslav Ustyanskyi adds that Viktor has bilateral chronic sensorineural deafness of the 2nd or 3rd degree. The expert explains how the hearing aids from the Foundation will help the boy. 

“These are modern hearing aids produced in Denmark. They have a speech processor, and this has a very good effect on the way how the child perceives sounds. That is, he will hear better and speak better, perceiving sounds,” the doctor notes. 

In the framework of the project Rinat Akhmetov for Children. I Can Hear Now the assistance with hearing aids can be obtained by children with hearing impairment who are under the age of 7 years old and who live or lived in territorial communities affected by the military hostilities, were under occupation or encirclement.

If your relatives or acquaintances have a child who is in need of hearing aids, contact the Foundation’s toll-free hotline 0 (800) 509 001 (the telephone line is open from Monday to Friday), or write to the Foundation’s messenger https://m.me/AkhmetovFDU