Woman given hearing aids she couldn't afford

BOSTON — A woman who has been struggling for years with hearing loss is finally getting the help she needs.

Dawn Haggie was in her 20s when sound began to muffle and hearing specialist Ryan Mckallagat says it only deteriorated.

But Haggie could never afford the hearing aids she needed, so Beltone decided to give her some for free after she wrote them a letter explaining her struggle.

"I am missing out on my life!" Haggie wrote in her letter. "I spend a lot of time just smiling and saying nothing. My friends and I cannot have a simple conversation without them repeating things to me several times and then they finally get frustrated and give up."%

%

Haggie said the cost of hearing aids was always too expensive and she thought she'd just never be able to afford them. She even began learning sign language to communicate.

FOX25 was there as the doctor turned the hearing aids on for the first time, giving Haggie something she hadn't experienced in years.

"It's loud. It's very loud," she said right away.

She's suffered severe hearing loss for almost two decades. The Center for Disease Control says 48 million people suffer from hearing loss and hearing specialists say it can be 10 years before people are able to get help.

"It's been progressively worse, by my insurance would never -- all the insurance that I needed to have never really covered any of this," Haggie exdplained.

But not long ago, Haggie learned about a scholarship program through Beltone.

"We felt like she would be the perfect candidate," Mckallagat said. "She suffers from severe hearing loss."

For Haggie, there's now a learning curve to tuning out background noise and trying not to be startled by sudden sounds.

But they're challenges she is willing to take on.

"Oh my god, I'm going to hear again. I'm going to hear again," she said as she tested out the hearing aids. "My whole world has opened up. So it's like a whole new world, it's like starting over."

Haggie's new hearing aids have settings depending on the type of place she is in and GPS in case she misplaces them.

Cox Media Group