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July 22, 2008
Romanian Girl Gets Cochlear Implant
Francesca Burcea was born with normal hearing 3-1/2 years ago in her native Romania. She had started to say a few words when she contracted meningitis at 18 months. It spared her life but took her hearing. Doctors aren't sure why the disease can have that complication. It could be the disease process itself, the high fevers or even the life-saving medicines that doctors need to prescribe.
Francesca's father called his sister, Kristina Bigu in the St. Louis area to ask if there was anything she knew of that could help. She asked St. Louis audiologist, Stanton Jones and he suggested a cochlear implant. They are not available in Romania, so Kristina appealed to Dr. Jones for help. That got the ball rolling.
Dr. Jones agreed to donate his time. Cardinal Glennon provided its medical facilities and its charity arm, Mission Services arranged to have Francesca brought to this country. The manufacturer donated a cochlear implant and SLU surgeon, Dr. Anthony Mikulec agreed to do the implant operation.
Three weeks later, Dr. Jones brought Francesca in to test the new device. It worked. Dr. Jones reported good response from the nerve and Francesca's facial expressions showed she was responding to sound. It was an emotional time for Aunt Kristina and Francesca's mom, Adina Burcea. Francesca will remain in St. Louis for several months while doctors help her adjust to the new device and work on developing speech again.
Cochlear implants are not for everyone. It involves surgery to implant the device. They don't work for everyone and they are very expensive – around $65,000 for everything. Most insurance and Medicare do pay for them.
http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7009213&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Posted by 4HL on July 22, 2008 12:03 AM
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