Wade's Story

Wade's story- Dubbo NSW

Hi my name is Ron Hammond. I would like to share with you my story of our sons ear problems hoping that it might help other families learn. My son Wade was born in 2001. He had otitis media since he was a toddler and his condition was serious.

He had large holes in both of his eardrums and it took years to get this condition under control. Even now as an adult he still has problems as his eardrums are so thick and his eustachian tube is malformed.

Wade's journey to improving his ear health started in 2011 when he was in Year 3 at Dubbo West Public School. As a parent I didn’t know a thing about how serious otitis media can be until then. I was constantly taking him to Doctors and they would give him anti-biotic medication. I knew in my own heart there was a problem but I wasn’t getting any answers.

Then I met Rachel and Donna who visit my son's school regularly. They are teachers and work with the Hearing Support Team in Dubbo. They came to me to explain everything about Wade's problem with his ears. I learnt that it is very important to keep Wade’s ears dry- no water at all to get in. He has to blow his nose regularly and keep his hands clean. This helps manage his condition.

Donna and Rachel took us to Dr Ridha and as a team it took us all of Wade's schooling life to manage his ear health and hearing. He had many operations including having the holes patched and bones replaced in both ears. He was fitted with hearing aids at age 11 which really helped with his learning at school. We were hoping this was the end of his ear health problems. Unfortunately every time he got a head cold another hole appeared in his eardrum but they eventually healed. This is still happening today as an adult.

Wade having pus vacuumed from his ear which was a regular thing. It was painful and he was very brave.

His Ear Specialist, Dr Ridha, has been a fantastic support to us.

I would like to thank Wade's team who helped save his ears. They say it takes a village to raise a child. With Wade's severe ear health it took a team to save his ears! Pictured with Wade is his Teacher of the Deaf that supported him for 10 years, Rachel Mills and Supervising Assistant Principals of the Deaf Donna Rees and Veronica Bengough.

The photo below shows Wade after he did a presentation about his ear health journey at an Otitis Media symposium in Dubbo. From left to right we have Teachers of the Deaf Donna Rees and Rachel Mills, Australia's only Aboriginal ENT surgeon Associate Professor Kelvin Kong, Wade, Dr Ridha and Audiometrist Sahar Salman.

Wade graduated from Dubbo College Senior Campus in 2020. The only child in the family to finish Yr 12. He has a Certificate 3 in Social Services and as of 2022 is doing a Childcare traineeship.