Ella’s life changing surgery on the way
FAMILY and friends of Albury’s Ella Morgan are aiming to raise $110,000 for surgery that will be performed in the United States of America.
Ella requires combined microtia and atresia surgery and the only two surgeons in the world who can perform it are located in California, USA.
The people of South Gippsland raised some of the funds for the surgery by supporting a car raffle organised by Ella’s grandparents Jim and Joy Morgan of Leongatha.
The raffle was drawn last Wednesday and was won by Nar Nar Goon’s Alison Lester, who was thrilled to win the Nissan Micra.
“The Leongatha and Inverloch communities have really rallied around Ella. We couldn’t have done it without Joy and Jim,” Ella’s mum Belinda Taylor said.
“We want to thank them for putting the raffle together, which will take us a huge step forward towards Ella’s surgery.”
Ms Taylor said before the raffle, they had another $25,000 to raise.
“The car raffle will be a major contributor to those funds,” she said.
Ella said the support shown to her from both the Gippsland and Albury Wodonga communities has been overwhelming.
“I am speechless, I can’t say enough,” she said at the raffle draw last Wednesday.
“I can’t believe it is happening to me and my family, and I am thankful to everyone for their support and generosity.”
A rare congenital condition, microtia is a term used to describe the malformation of the external part of the ear. Absence of the ear canal is known as atresia.
“Ella has profound hearing loss in her right ear and mild hearing loss in her left ear. The surgery will aim to reconstruct her ear and rebuild her ear canal, meaning she can be totally unaided,” Ms Taylor said.
Ella’s condition has caused her to struggle academically and she also experiences hearing loss in large crowds and other noisy situations.
“After the surgery, that won’t be an issue,” Ms Taylor said.
The family has been fundraising for the surgery for almost a year and have held a gala dinner, a dance, a golf day, movie nights and sausage sizzles.
“Also people have been holding benefits on our behalf. The Albury Wodonga and Gippsland communities have been incredible,” Ms Taylor said.
“We are very lucky to be a part of both communities.”
Winning ticket: Darryl McGannon from Edney’s Leongatha and Ella Morgan from Albury with the winning raffle ticket, belonging to Alison Lester from Nar Nar Goon.
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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Sep 20 2016. Filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
