an inspirational person who is both Blind And deaf is on a mission to provide affordable hearing aids to deserving and deserving men, women and children across the country.
When he was just 8 years old, Michelle Shapiro of Long Island, New York, discovered that both she and her sister needed hearing aids.
Years later when he was 24, Mitchell was in a car accident and a specialist diagnosed him with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), in which cells in the retina slowly break down over time, causing vision loss. Is.
“Combine it with hearing loss, it’s called Usher syndrome [where you lose both your vision and hearing]”Michelle explained.
“Just imagine what life would be like if you had no hearing and no vision. Imagine having children and not being able to see their beautiful faces, or hear their screams [when] They need your help with something,” he said. “There are a lot of things that go through my mind all the time.”
In 1995, Mitchell did not know what to do with his life, and he refused to accept a job at a hardware store because “nothing mattered to me at that time.”
“Who will keep the man who is going Blind And deafMichelle thought.
However, Mitchell decided to take action. He joined the Long Island chapter of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, an organization that raises money for vision research. After offering to do public relations and community outreach, Mitchell eventually became president of the chapter where he helped raise over $1 million.
In 2004, Mitchell teamed up with a man who owned hearing aid centers and formed Help America Hear, a nonprofit that provides hearing aids to low-income, qualifying individuals.
“Since 2009, we have fitted hearing aids to more than 1,800 people across America,” he said.
“My goal is to provide hearing aids to as many people as possible across the country, and most importantly, to bring more people together to help us in our journey of raising funds and creating awareness about hearing loss.”
After hearing her story, Rach and John tell Michelle that Lexi Hearing, which provides over-the-counter hearing aid, is donating $10,000 to Help America Hear.
Additionally, the two – who have personal connections to vision and hearing loss issues – surprised Michelle by personally matching Lexie Hearing’s donation.
“I can only say thank you, thank you, thank you. You’ve inspired me 10 times over,” Michelle said.
“You inspire us, Mitch,” Rach said in response.
For more information and to find out if you or a loved one is eligible for hearing aids, visit helpamericahear.org,