{"id":97483,"date":"2015-08-24T08:15:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-24T06:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/97483\/help-jordan-hear\/"},"modified":"2015-08-24T09:25:25","modified_gmt":"2015-08-24T07:25:25","slug":"help-jordan-hear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/news-headlines\/2015\/08\/24\/help-jordan-hear\/","title":{"rendered":"Help Jordan hear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe best first birthday gift we could give Jordan would be for him to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These were the desperate words of Nicoleen and Dwyne van der Merwe, as they spoke to a GCN journalist at their Tedstoneville home, on their son\u2019s first birthday, August 15.<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_97485\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-97485\" style=\"width: 520px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/08\/34GCNGENERALJORDLH2_52523.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-97485\" src=\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2015\/08\/34GCNGENERALJORDLH2_52523-520x390.jpg\" alt=\"Dwyne and Nicoleen van der Merwe smile happily with their son, Jordan, outside their Tedstoneville home. The couple are appealing to the community to assist them with raising the more than R500\u00a0000 they need for Jordan to have a cochlear implant.\" width=\"520\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/31\/2015\/08\/34GCNGENERALJORDLH2_52523-520x390.jpg 520w, https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/31\/2015\/08\/34GCNGENERALJORDLH2_52523-270x203.jpg 270w, https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/31\/2015\/08\/34GCNGENERALJORDLH2_52523.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-97485\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dwyne and Nicoleen van der Merwe smile happily with their son, Jordan, outside their Tedstoneville home. The couple are appealing to the community to assist them with raising the more than R500\u00a0000 they need for Jordan to have a cochlear implant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cJordan\u2019s hearing can be restored with a cochlear implant,\u201d said Nicoleen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe implant would allow Jordan to live a normal life and hear his mommy\u2019s and daddy\u2019s voices for the first time.\u201d<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>But, to afford the operation, the couple needs to raise over R500 000, after their medical aid refused to assist with the operation.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan\u2019s doctor wants to fit the implant as soon as possible, in a desperate bid to save the nerves Jordan needs to hear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf these nerves stop working there will be no chance of him hearing again,\u201d an emotional Nicoleen said.<\/p>\n<p>The couple explained that, since his birth, Jordan has been struggling with ear infections and painful ears.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI could hardly put him down in the bed,\u201d Nicoleen said.<\/p>\n<p>When Jordan was six months old they noticed that he wouldn\u2019t react to the sound of a rattling toy, the slamming of a door or the sound of their voices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe immediately took him for a hearing test at an audiologist in Alberton,&#8221; Nicoleen said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey weren\u2019t able to get a proper reading, as his ears were so full of fluid, so she referred us to an ENT specialist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The specialist removed a thick piece of wax from one of Jordan\u2019s ears and the couple were asked to return within three weeks, as the build up may have been the cause of Jordan\u2019s hearing problems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we returned to the specialist we were told his ears had become worse, and Jordan was booked into hospital to have grommets fitted,\u201d Nicoleen said sadly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was in May of this year; Jordan was only eight months old at the time of the operation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the operation, Nicoleen and Dwyne still believe, Jordan reacted to rattling toys and their voices.<\/p>\n<p>However, two weeks after the grommets were fitted, fluid again began to build in his ears.<\/p>\n<p>This fluid ran from his ears despite Jordan being given antibiotics and ear drops.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fluid suddenly stopped one day; it was after this that we realised he was not responding to sounds again,\u201d Nicoleen said.<\/p>\n<p>The couple, not happy with their original ENT specialist, sought a second opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Duane Mol, based at Union Hospital, in Alberton, performed several tests on Jordan.<\/p>\n<p>When he did not react to any of the tests, Mol referred him to the Ear Institute in Pretoria for an Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe results of the ABR test revealed that Jordan is completely deaf,&#8221; Nicoleen said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was the worst news we could ever receive as parents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Further tests revealed that Jordan qualifies for a cochlear implant, which will allow him to hear again.<\/p>\n<p>In a bid to collect the money needed to restore their son\u2019s hearing Nicoleen and Dwyne, and their family, are appealing to the community to donate to this worthy cause.<\/p>\n<p>The parents will also be hosting a number of fund-raising days and competitions.<\/p>\n<p>More information on these projects can be found on Jordan\u2019s Facebook page: Help Jordan Hear (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/helpjordanhear1\" target=\"_blank\">www.facebook.com\/helpjordanhear1<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>To get involved, or for more information, call Nicoleen on 072 176 8759 or 011 436-0354.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"stream-item stream-item-below-post-content\">\n<div class='tenancy_slot tenancy_slot_1 jannah_ad' style='display: none;' data-query-id='eb34af4ce823816fb07be4c925656a10'><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parents desperate for their baby boy to hear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":97484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Leigh Hodgson","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[984,977,8297,1257,1051,1012,1003,1106,979,969,2730],"class_list":["post-97483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-charity","tag-children","tag-community-2","tag-donate","tag-donations","tag-east-rand","tag-ekurhuleni","tag-gcn","tag-germiston","tag-germiston-city-news","tag-leigh-hodgson"],"amp_enabled":true,"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["charity","children","community","donate","donations","East Rand","Ekurhuleni","GCN","germiston","germiston city news","Leigh Hodgson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}