A few weeks ago Dr. Zambrano in Quito wrote a short note with pictures of a little 11 year old girl that was born deaf. Her father left the family because she was a special needs child. The mother decided to sell her house to pay for a $51,000 operation for the little girl to provide her with hearing. They inserted some thing into the brain and then ran wires to a hearing aide by her ears. Dr. Zambrano said that the wires and battery had gone bad and wanted to see if we could help. The pictures were very helpful in seeing what the operation was about.

A Dentist from Cedar City, Utah had called about doing an expedition with his family. Susan and I were headed for St. George. So I called the dentist and said we were in ST. George and could we meet. He said his complete family was in St. George and we could meet that evening.

I went to their condo and we discussed the various options on expeditions. Of course, Ecuador was part of the conversation. The mother explained to me that she was very busy in that in Cedar City she worked a lot with hearing impaired people. I then explained to her the story on the little girl in Ecuador. I tried to explain the wires coming out of the top of her head and then the battery pack, etc. She stopped me and said look at my 10 year old son. Yes, he had wires out of his head with a battery pack. You could have knocked me over with a feather. It was the same operation that the little girl had.

The mother offered to help Dr. Zambrano find the proper parts. She has offered to send down the parts her son had used before being replaced with new technology. I truly felt like I was to meet this lady and family to help this little girl in Ecuador. What a miracle it was to have her son with the same apparatus as the little girl.

I went to bed that night with a smile on my face.

Gordon Carter