ELENA

Dear Friends of FACES,

Over the course of the years that FACES has been helping our family, Elena has gone from speaking by sign language and eating entirely by g-tube to talking (and by this I mean talking and chatting and whispering and singing in choir, acting in plays, shouting with glee etc.) and getting a fair portion of the calories she needs each day by “eating by mouth” (as our family calls it). Thanks to surgeries that were not possible when I was born, the tracheostomy tube that was vital to her early survival has been removed, she chews and swallows and speaks (eventualities that were not guaranteed), the health of her eye has been maintained despite a detached retina last year, and most recently she has the help of a new generation of hearing aids that brings her hearing almost to normal range.

To be honest, when Elena was born, we never could have foreseen the brilliance that has greeted us in her team of doctors, nor the kindness of people we don’t even know helping us with all the expenses we’d never imagined. (It costs a LOT to just pay for parking downtown when your daughter’s retina becomes detached!) Just when I couldn’t figure out how to pay for a return flight and rooms for a surgery complication, I discovered that FACES helps families with travel costs, room and board. You, and all the people who have kindly donated to FACES, have been at our side ever since and we thank you.

Sincerely,
Amy
Elena’s mom