"Schools, please figure out how to financially stabilize our teachers. If you can’t, we’ll lose them and then we’ll all lose out"
As a mother of a (now adult) child who was born with microtia and atresia over 30 years ago, I have been happily following Ruti Kepler’s serial Light Years Away, and was pleased to finally see a letter from another parent.
While my experiences were many years ago, they were very different from those of reader F.P., so I wanted to share mine as well.
We were very fortunate to learn of a very special man, Dr. Burt Brent, a plastic surgeon who pioneered reconstructive surgery of ears for microtia. He was a kind, caring person. A true mensch. He spent many years perfecting his techniques in the four-part surgery that took place over the course of a year (another stage performed every three months). The first surgery takes place when the child is six years old, as he felt there would be emotional damage past that age, due to teasing from other children.
Dr. Brent also focused on teaching his technique to other doctors, so children around the world could benefit from what he had learned. Dr. Brent introduced us to Jack Gross, another amazing man who created a support group of parents in the New York area.
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