Despite report to contrary, fundraising continues for covering family's costs
Amanda and Aaron Gervason knew it would be a daunting challenge to raise the necessary funds — almost a quarter million dollars — to cover their young son Emmett’s ear operation in California in July, along with all the related support, travel, and post-operative care costs.
But they never lost hope…and have been overwhelmed by the generosity of friends and strangers.
To date, the GoFundMe account has garnered over $175,000, which includes a couple recent and significant anonymous donations.
Emmett, who will turn three in June, was born with pediatric microtia in his left ear, a congenital deformity in which the ear is small and misshapen. He also has atresia, a condition in which he is missing the ear canal, rendering him deaf on one side. Emmett has problems identifying the direction of sounds and coping with noise, and has several learning deficits affecting his speech and language skills. Frustration is a constant companion. The surgery should restore 80 percent of the hearing capability in his ear.
Although Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital is capable of performing the necessary corrective surgery, Emmett does not qualify for the operation until he turns 10, and his parents are unwilling to see him struggle developmentally and emotionally for seven years in the interim.
An article last week in another Niagara newspaper suggested that all costs are now fully covered, which turns out not to be the case. Amanda Gervason was on the radio last Saturday morning, with Rod Mahood on his 610 CKTB Sports Report program, to clarify that fundraising efforts are still underway.
“The Niagara Peninsula Children's Foundation is providing some funding through their Pizza Jerry's raffle tickets,” she said. Additionally, a friend of her father-in-law created a large statue of the Grinch wearing a Toronto Maple Leaf’s jersey, bearing top scorer Austin Matthews’ number.
“Rod Mahood is actually arranging for the statue to be signed by Matthews, and then raffled off,” Gervason told the Voice. Proceeds will be directed to Emmett’s GoFundMe.
“Emmett doesn’t really understand that he’s going to have an operation that will improve his hearing, but he understands that he is going on a jet plane ride, and he is very keen on that,” she said with a laugh.
The Gervason’s GoFundMe page is https://ca.gofundme.com/f/an-ear-for-emmy.