Dubai: An Indian mother is appealing to the generosity of UAE residents to help raise money for a cochlear implant that would help her regain her hearing and her job back at the same time.
Just when Sharjah-based Olive Lopez thought she was back in good health after a successful kidney transplant in India that was fully funded with the help of Gulf News readers, she lost her hearing after an infection and is unable to communicate with others.
For over a year, Olive, 41, and her husband Jonathan Lopez have been struggling to survive as a family of four, especially after Olive could not resume work, and they have not been able to find a way to get the cochlear surgery funded in the UAE, due to high costs.
A group of volunteers from Valley of Love, a 15-year-old NGO in the UAE, have been working closely with the family since their first ordeal and have again stepped in to assist them in getting the surgery done in Mumbai instead. But the implant, which costs around Dh55,000, seems out of reach without enough funding.
“Olive was working as a secretary and everything was going fine, but then she had a kidney failure and needed a life-saving transplant. When that was successfully done in December 2015, she completely lost her hearing after that and she couldn’t resume work anymore,” said Jonathan. “I’m the only breadwinner now and I earn a low salary. We are already struggling to survive because we have two daughters going to school and the cost of living is high.”
Jonathan said almost all of their savings were spent on Olive’s costly treatments when she suffered from her kidney problems.
Volunteer Garth Mitchell said for over a year, Olive’s application for funding to do the cochlear surgery in the UAE has been doing the rounds at various hospitals and charity foundations, but “we haven’t been successful, one reason being the cost is much higher here, typically Dh250,000 to Dh300,000”.
“We have been doing our best to get the implant funding in place. Our plan B was to try getting the implant in India itself. We presented all the options to Olive and she was more comfortable with a doctor called Dr Chris De Souza, one of India’s foremost surgeons,” said Mitchell.
Raising Dh55,000 will help Olive do the surgery and will cover costs of hospitalisation and her stay for three to four weeks, added Mitchell. “As per the doctor’s timeline, he wants to schedule it at the end of September and for that to happen, we need to raise the money.”
According to Mitchell, Olive’s boss has kept her on the company’s visa for the last two years and assured them that she will get her job back when she starts hearing again. “A group of us, led by Noor Al Khoury (another volunteer), created Olive’s Circle of Life and we have been donating an amount of money to Olive every month that is equivalent to her salary.”
When Gulf News contacted Olive through WhatsApp, she said: “I’m just praying and hoping things work out for me as it’s been almost three years since I haven’t been working and have lost my hearing over a year and a half ago which has made things even worse ... It’s been very difficult communicating with anyone ...”
Jonathan said Gulf News readers saved his wife’s life the first time in 2015 and hopes his family can get assistance again. “We are really struggling, we hope her hearing comes back and we live our life normal again.”
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