Boy Born Without Ears Receives Gift of Sound

Diego Neumaier Ortiz, a 12-year-old boy born with deformed ears, can finally hear, thanks to a doctor's gift.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on October 11 2010

Diego Neumaier Ortiz, a 12-year-old boy from Puebla, Mexico, was born with a condition called microtia, which left his ears almost completely undeveloped. Even with a hearing aid, sound was almost completely muffled for the young boy.

So Diego threw himself into a sport where he didn’t need to be conscious of his teammates’ calls: gymnastics. He learned to master the arts of vaulting, balance bars, and backflips. Recently, he became the junior gymnastics champion in all of Mexico. A visiting American doctor was watching from the bleachers, amazed by the child’s skill. He also noticed that Diego was deaf—and thought that something could be done to fix that.

The doctor contacted a well-known specialist in ear reconstruction, Dr. John Reinisch. He offered to take Diego’s complicated case for no charge.

In the operation, Dr. Reinisch and another surgeon, Dr. Joseph Roberson, created an outer ear for cosmetic purposes, then drilled a hole to access the inner ear and build an ear canal. The operation took nine hours, and the ear would require two weeks to heal.

When the doctors finally pulled back the gauze on Diego’s new ear, his mother praised the good work they had done. That was the first time Diego had heard her voice.

In return for the gift of hearing, Diego presented the doctors with a present of his own: his championship medals for his gymnastics wins.

“I don’t have anything to give them, but this is so valuable to me,” Diego told CBS. “I want to give them to Dr. Reinisch, because he is giving me something greater: two ears.”

Filed under: Health and Wellbeing,

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