Microtia and Atresia Support Group

06/09/2026

Here's a wonderful story from Lindsey and Ryan McDevitt about their journey with microtia and atresia, finding our Ear Community and the Cochlear Americas Baha Start for their beautiful daughter, Brooke! 👂❤️

So many of us feel lost and alone with microtia and atresia. Especially in the beginning, but finding the right help means so much! This story not only shares the McDevitt Family's experience and journey with their daughter, Brooke, but it also shares about how the McDevitt Family is giving back to our community! Lindsey not only wrote a book to help others in our community learn about a Baha, called "Brooke's Baha," which can be found at the following link, but Lindsey and Ryan have been advocating for Ally's Act because they were also denied coverage by their private insurer for a Baha for Brooke. Ryan ended up changing jobs that eventually led to coverage for Brooke's Baha. Ryan is also one of Ear Community's lobbyists advocating to help pass our legislation! ❤

Thank you to Jesse Griego at Cochlear for this great story for our community!
Ryan McDevitt

https://hearandnow.cochlear.com/hearing-loss/children/hearing-journey-microtia-atresia/

Thank you!
Melissa w/ Ear Community

“Like many, our journey with microtia/atresia started in a very vulnerable place – the delivery room. Exhausted, eager, and full of emotion, we were told that our 2-minute old, 5-pound 9-ounce daughter, Brooke, was missing a right ear. There in the delivery room, the full meaning of having a dau...

06/08/2026

Our California Ear Community microtia & atresia picnic is taking place this weekend in San Diego on Saturday, June 13th! ❤👂

Our picnic host family will be the beautiful Smyth Family! ❤👂 Alex and Jason found our Ear Community Organization when Sayer was born with unilateral microtia & atresia. Sayer is aided with an Oticon Medical Ponto 5 Mini. Sayer and his family find joy in attending an Ear Community picnic each summer and are so proud to host our San Diego event this summer! Sayer is already a great advocate for our community because "Microtia Kids Rock!" ❤ 👂

A special thank you to our Ear Community Sponsors for helping make our days together extra special!
Thank you to our Platinum Sponsors:
MED-EL USA - (ADHEAR and BONEBRIDGE)
Oticon Medical - (Ponto and Sentio)
SuhHermsen Adaptive Eyewear Solutions

Drs. Daniela Carvalho, Dr. Jason Qian, Catherine Moyer and Alexis Bulcao will also be joining us from Rady Children's Health! Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego

A special thank you to the Gross Family Foundation and the Blue Chip Foundationfor their incredible support to our organization and to the Weil Company Family Foundation for helping make our day extra special! ❤

Alex, Jason and Sayer are excited to host our special day for everyone this Saturday! We look forward to seeing everyone in sunny San Diego!

Thank you!
Ear Community
Alex Smyth
Holly Gill

06/05/2026

Our group member Rachaun would like to ask the following question to the group:

Has anyone had their toddler get checked by a pediatric ophthalmologist to make sure no vision issues? I’ve seen mixed thoughts on this. My daughter was also premature at 34.5 weeks and has unilateral microtia atresia grade 3. I personally have no concerns in her vision but I guess you just never know. Any input would be great. Thanks!

-Lauren with Ear Community
www.earcommunity.org

06/01/2026

Hi Everyone!
Thank you so much for the support to our May Ear Community Birthday Fundraiser! Of our goal to raise $3,500, we raised $2,021.00! This is from our FB fundraiser and also donations that came in directly through our secure link on our organization's website.

Thank you again to everyone who helped give back during our May fundraiser, through Ear Community, supporting the work our organization does for the microtia and atresia community! We are grateful for everyone's support and your support matters to our community! Thank you so much!👂❤

Thank you again for giving back!
Ear Community

06/01/2026

Our support group member, Rebekah, has the following question for everyone:

"We’ve recently moved from the US to the UK and are being offered to be included in a trial for under 12’s for a Oticon Sentio device for my son’s unilateral Microtia. Can I ask if there are any members who have had this done in the last year (only approved in US above 12) that would be willing to chat about their experience for themselves or their kids?"

Thank you!
Melissa w/Ear Community

06/01/2026

Hi Everyone!
Our support group member, Tineke, wanted to ask everyone the following question:

"Good Morning,
My daughter, Layla, now 16 is starting to talk more and more about jaw reconstruction. Any tips or advise anyone can share? Tineke"

Thank you!
Melissa w/ Ear Community

06/01/2026

Our Massachusetts Ear Community microtia & atresia picnic is taking place this weekend in Brookline on Saturday, June 6th! ❤👂

Our picnic host family will be the beautiful Furze Family! ❤👂 Kim and Pat found our Ear Community Organization when Bennett was born with unilateral microtia & atresia. Bennett is aided with an Oticon Medical Ponto 5 Mini. Bennett's sister, Lena, is his biggest fan and Bennett's Grandma, Ellen, was also born with microtia & atresia! Ellen is also a proud Ear Community Board Member! Bennett's family has advocated for Ally's Act! And, I have to say that Bennett is a great advocate for our community because "Microtia Kids Rock!" ❤ 👂

A special thank you to our Ear Community Sponsors for helping make our days together extra special!
Thank you to our Platinum Sponsors:
MED-EL USA - (ADHEAR and BONEBRIDGE)
Oticon Medical - (Ponto and Sentio)
SuhHermsen Adaptive Eyewear Solutions

Dr. Ron Eavey, a world renowned pediatric ENT and genetics expert, who has dedicated his career to microtia & atresia for the past 30 years, will be joining us! Kaylee Dougherty of Boston Ocular Prosthetics, will be joining us too, educating on prosthetic ears!

A special thank you to the Gross Family Foundation for their incredible support to our organization and to Lauren Wilwerding & Jamie Cohen & their family for the incredible support to our Ear Community Organization! ❤

Kim, Pat, Bennett & Lena are excited to host our special day for everyone this Saturday! We look forward to seeing everyone in Brookline!
Thank you!
Ear Community

-Lauren with Ear Community
www.earcommunity.org

Kim Furze

05/30/2026

Here is a great story on James Hermsen and the helpful eyewear he makes for our microtia community! We'll see James at our Ear Community picnics this summer along with his awesome sunglasses and eyeglasses for microtia kids (and adults)!

Amazing, James! So proud of you and all that you have accomplished! Thank you to Dr. Suh too! Thank you especially for the eyewear for our beautiful microtia kids! Thank you for giving kids a chance to help keep their glasses up even when they are missing their ears!💗👂😎
SuhHermsen Adaptive Eyewear Solutions

05/29/2026

Our group member Regina would like to share this resource with the group:

This company makes amazing custom hearing-aid cases and truly makes them one of a kind. This one was custom made for my daughter, who has the Sentio implanted.

They worked directly with their Osia rep to make sure all buttons and important parts could still be used properly. Definitely check out their page!

I live in the U.S., and even though they’re in the UK, communication and shipping were not an issue at all. I thought others might like it as well!

-Lauren with Ear Community

05/28/2026

May is National Speech-Language-Hearing Month! All month long, we are asking all advocates to please call your Congressmen and Senators in Washington, DC, asking them to cosponsor Ally's Act, H.R. 4606 & S. 3400 and to give this bill a hearing!

When calling your Congressman's DC office, please say "I would like to ask Congressman/woman to cosponsor Ally's Act, H.R. 4606 because this bill matters to me. I would also like to ask you to help get a hearing for this bill with the E&C Committee."

When calling your Senator's DC office, please say "I would like to ask Senator to cosponsor Ally's Act, S. 3400 because this bill matters to me. I would also like to ask you to help get a hearing for this bill with the HELP Committee."

Ally’s Act would provide fair and consistent coverage for bone anchored hearing systems (BAHA) and cochlear implants (CI) for children and adults age birth to 64, including services, upgrades, surgery, and associated costs. These hearing device systems are medically necessary and yet are consistently denied coverage by private insurance companies, despite the critical and life-changing support these devices provide.

Congressional and Senate offices need to hear from our community members asking them to support and cosponsor Ally's Act, H.R. 4606 & S. 3400! We want Ally's Act to pass so our children and adults can hear their best and not have to worry about our insurance coverage denying the opportunity to hear better when we need it most!

The following link will help you find your Congressman: https://www.house.gov/representa.../find-your-representative

The following link will help you find your Senators: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

For details on how to advocate for this bill, please visit Ear Community's website at: https://earcommunity.org/about/allys-act-h-r-5485/

* A special thank you to Jai Malik for helping create our Ally's Act campaign for this month and all of his work helping advocate for Ally's Act, H.R. 4606 and S. 3400!

Thank you!
EarCommunity.org