Charlie was born in East Yorkshire and when he arrived, I noticed his left ear looked different and he had a skin tag on his face, but no one seemed to know what had happened. Once I was at home, I googled ‘little ears’ and came across ‘microtia’.

We had never heard or seen someone with microtia before, and it wasn’t until Charlie was around 1 month old that an audiologist told me that his ear was in fact a condition called microtia.

As a baby, Charlie was seen every 6 months by audiology, ENT and the hemifacial microsomia team. This continued for a number of years but nothing really ever came from his appointments. We were told that Charlie was doing just fine and was sent on our way.

When Charlie was 5 years old, I took him to one of the Microtia UK London events, and at this event he tried on a hearing aid for the first time.

His face lit up and he looked at me and said, “I can hear in both ears!” 

I couldn’t believe it! In that moment, I knew that all this time I should have pushed harder for a hearing aid, because why not give him hearing in two ears – as we are born with hearing in both for a reason! Once we were back home, I straight away got in touch with his audiologist and asked if this was something they could provide for Charlie, instead of them telling me that he is coping just fine.

They agreed and gave Charlie a BAHA on a soft band to try out. He really liked the sound it gave him, but disliked wearing the band as it often slipped on his fine hair. 

Once the trial was over, and after then having his own BAHA on a soft band for a while, he then decided that he would like to go ahead and have the BAHA Attract operation which involves putting a magnet under his skin for the BAHA to attach itself to, without using the band. 

Charlie has always been a bright young boy, who knew what he wanted. So we went ahead with the surgery when he was 6 years old. 

Having microtia has not stopped Charlie from achieving or from having lots of friends. He has always been a popular boy, who loved making people laugh, and he is very clever. 

Having microtia has actually opened up opportunities for Charlie! He was signed with Zebedee (modelling agency), he applied to be on Cbeebies, he was in the Christmas panto at our local spa theatre, he has been on television, raising awareness on the news several times, he has come to the charity events and spoken about his life, and he has been in magazines and blogs.

Charlie has had mainly positive experiences during his childhood. But at the age of 14, he did come to me and his dad and asked if he could have an ear reconstruction. Even though he had always loved his microtia ear, he had decided that he wanted to have the surgery so that when he was older, he no longer had to keep explaining himself to people (unless he wanted to about his deafness). 

To find out more about Charlie’s ear reconstruction journey, how it went, and to see photos of the process then click here. Please note, it is an honest blog about our journey and experiences which some may find difficult to read