20-22 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU info@microtiauk.org 07494050667

Victoria and Jake’s Story

Hello!

My name is Jake and I am 6 years old. I’ve got a special little ear and my Mummy has a little ear as well. My little ear looks different to my Mummy’s and it is on the other side. I wear a hearing aid because I can’t hear with my little ear. Sometimes people laugh at my little ear and a girl was once mean about it. This made me feel a bit sad but I have a lot of friends who like my little ear. Some boys and girls are very nice and ask me why I have a little ear. I tell them it is because I was born like that but sometimes I get annoyed with the same question. Sometimes my hearing aid makes my head itch so I keep on moving my BAHA on my head at school and at home. When it’s my next birthday, I am going to say yes to the Doctors to have a magnet in my head so I don’t have to wear my band anymore.

I remember going to a play park to see more people with little ears. I was surprised that there were more people with little ears. I like having my little ear because it’s so special.

Hi.

I’m Victoria and I was born in September 1983 with right sided Microtia and right sided Hemi Facial Microsomia. All through my childhood, nothing was ever mentioned medically about my Microtia. I had a hard time at times hearing people and my Mother liked to make a spectacle of my ear, almost like it was her “Party piece”. Despite this, my ear has never bothered me in an extreme way. Typically, as a teenager, I never wore my hair up and would never go to the Hairdressers. My Sister cut my hair for me. I had my ears pierced when I was 14 and had to obtained a Doctor’s note for the piercer to be happy with piercing my Microtia side. The Doctor found it all quite amusing, to be honest.

When I was 24, I gave birth to my 3rd child. To my surprise, he was also born with Microtia. He has left sided Microtia and left sided Hemi Facial Microsomia. In total, I have 5 children but Jake is the only one with a little ear. His ear is very bittersweet. Of course I would never have wished it on him, but because I now had a child with Microtia, I had to research what was involved with this condition. I needed to obtained a lot more information than the little facts I knew before having Jake. That’s when I stumbled across Microtia Mingle on Facebook. It’s interesting to read other people’s stories, although I usually have a different view to other parents. Most of the parents had never heard of Microtia before their Babies were born and were understandably curious/worried/anxious. My Husband and I were just surprised with Jake’s little ear as we had always been told that it wasn’t inherited.

I wear a BAHA Attract system. This is wear a magnet is fixed into your skull instead of having an abutment on the outside of your head. Again, I only learned about this because if my research for Jake after his birth.

Microtia affects my hearing and being 31, I still do notice the stares but cope with them just like anything else now. It comes with having something different to others to look at. My confidence levels stay high and I am proud of that. My Microtia isn’t so bad. It’s a part of my life and always will be x