Jesus Eduardo Ortega Ibarra

Jesus Eduardo is 11 years old and the oldest of four children. He was born two months premature. His deafness was not detected until he turned one, and it was not until he turned five that a nonprofit  group donated a used hearing aid for him. The hearing aids were old, not very effective and broke soon after being donated.

Jesus Eduardo comes from a hard-working family that has very little money. His father drives a tow truck and his mother stays at home, except on weekends when she goes out with her children to sell Jell-O, rice pudding, buñuelos and churros. Jesus Eduardo’s 4th grade teachers said he is very smart despite his troubles advancing in school due to being unable to hear.

When the GROW team met Jesus Eduardo in 2017, they arranged for him to be adapted with two hearing aids. It was an emotional experience as he was finally able to clearly hear his mother’s voice. At school, his teachers immediately saw an improvement in his speech development.

Today, Jesus Eduardo is doing well. With the help of the hearing aids, he no longer has limited verbal skills. Jesus Eduardo speaks fluently and has made marked improvements in school, which keeps him moving forward. His teacher says he now participates in class activities and interacts with other students.  He chooses not to use his sign language, but rather is motivated to speak like his classmates, which means his learning capacity continues to expand.

GROW closely follows Jesus Eduardo’s progress, ensuring he has regular check-ups with the audiologist to do maintenance on the apparatus, note his improvements, and focus on additional treatment that is needed.

Jesus Eduardo is growing up a happy, talented boy thanks to the GROW fund which, one banana at a time, has allowed him to hear and has significantly improved his well-being.