The girl born with no ears: Little Harriet has a rare congenital condition but her desperate parents are fighting to change her life with a revolutionary surgery – and they need your help
- Harriet Sanders was born with a rare condition bilateral microtia and atresia
- The four-year-old grew up in Tarragindi in Brisbane with no ears or ear canals
- Her parents are crowdfunding the cost of expensive reconstructive surgery
- Their Gofundme page has already raised $56,000 of the $70,000 goal
A four-year-old born without ears is hoping reconstructive surgery will help her feel like every other little girl.
Harriet Sanders, four, (pictured) was born without ears or ear canals
Harriet Sanders from Tarragindi in Brisbane‘s south has a rare congenital condition known as bilateral microtia and atresia.
She does not have ears or ear canals on either side of her head.
Her father Jay Sanders said she seemed like a perfectly healthy baby when she was delivered.
‘When she was born she came out and as little babies are they are all squashed and you don’t really think much of it you think oh cool I’ve got a beautiful girl,’ he said.
But he said it wasn’t long before they discovered something was wrong.
Harriet was fitted with hearing aids at three weeks old and developed like any other normal child
Her father Jay Sanders (pictured with Harriet) said she seemed like a perfectly healthy baby when she was delivered
‘I remember looking at her side and thinking one ear is all scrunched up and the other side looks a little bare and I thought that’s a bit strange,’ he said.
‘No-one could tell us what the story was, the doctors didn’t really know much and Anna and I had to sleep on it for 24 hours until an ENT came the next day and said this is what has happened.’
Harriet was fitted with hearing aids at three weeks old and developed like any other child.
But her parents are fighting to get expensive reconstructive surgery so she can look and feel like a normal four-year-old girl.
The operation to construct and surgically attach the 3D printed ears would take between 10 to 12 hours.
But her parents Anna and Jay Sanders (pictured together with Harriet) are fighting to get expensive reconstructive surgery so she can feel like a normal four-year-old girl
To cover the costs they have reached out to the community through crowdfunding platform GoFundme
‘This operation will mean she can go to school and go through life looking like everyone else, with no physical deformity,’ Mother Anna Sanders said.
‘It will give her a huge amount of confidence.’
‘For her to be able to wear sunglasses, and to look like a normal kid- to push her hair behind her ears- they are simple little things that she doesn’t get to do today,’ Mr Sanders said.
The family faces being left $70,000 out of pocket even with private health insurance and Medicare footing part of the surgery bill.
They have reached out to the community through crowdfunding platform Gofundme to help cover the costs.
The family has raised more than $56,000 of their $70,000 goal since launching the fundraiser on September 3.
Her parents are fighting to get expensive reconstructive surgery so she can feel like a normal four-year-old girl
They say they are ‘truly overwhelmed’ by the support and generosity of strangers across Australia.
‘We want to thank each and every one of you that have very generously donated and your kind words. We really do appreciate your support so much,’ they wrote on GoFundme.
‘We are so grateful and excited that Harriet’s dream of having ears is getting much closer.’
The surgery will be performed by Dr Joe Dusseldorp, known to his patients as Dr Joe.
He will construct new ears using a 3D printer constructed with tiny holes which allow tissue to grow into it.
The scaffolding is then covered with skin grafts so it looks like normal ears.
Since launching the fundraiser on September 3 they have raised more than $56,000 of their $70,000 goal to get Harriet life changing surgery