I am Discovery’s latest Medical Miracle!
Fantastic, I can hear you say. But how did this happen?
Well, it all started two years ago when I began blogging. Blogging, I have discovered is not merely about writing and publishing your piece. Oh no, believe you me, there is far more to it than that. If you desire to make some kind of living from blogging, you need to persuade companies to advertise on your blog.
I decided to approach Discovery Health to see if they might be interested in having an advertisement on my blog. Discovery Health is one of the leading private medical aid companies in South Africa. It is thanks to them that I have re-gained my hearing. Through my Cochlea Implants, sound and in a way, “the world” was given back to me. My blog had a reasonable amount of followers, I thought. I had 298! Discovery Health would surely jump at the chance. Need I point out how desperately blogging-naive I was at that stage! They very politely declined! I did not meet their criteria. Not meet their criteria! Well…I thought, a little indignantly, well…Flip!
Time and my blogging moved on. And the followers of ‘ear ‘ear’ increased.

When my number of followers reached three thousand, I thought the time was right to approach Discovery Health again. I had no knowledge of what criteria were being used to judge me, but I thought that my three thousand followers would be sure to sway them in my direction. This time my very polite and well thought out letter didn’t even get a response! Blast it, I wished I knew what criteria they were judging me by.
Last July when visiting England I was fortunate to meet Sarah Lawrence and her business partner, Simon Deacy. Sarah is the creator of SL First, the English Deaf magazine. Over a gorgeous brunch, they mentioned LinkedIn to me. Simon was amazed that I wasn’t on it and explained that it was the business persons Facebook. He felt it was vital that I joined LinkedIn. Oh no I thought not more social media! But, back I came to South Africa and LinkedIn and I are now well acquainted.
One day on LinkedIn, I encountered the CEO of Discovery Health. Oh, great stuff! I had made no headway going through the normal marketing channels with Discovery. Let me try a different approach and tackle the person at the top. And so I invited him to “connect”. As if hearing the Siren’s song, much to my amazement, the CEO duly connected!
I was now privy to the CEO’s email address! So, I wrote and spoke of my wish to have Discovery Health advertise on my blog. I also expressed a desire to be an ambassador for Discovery. They had done so much for me regarding my hearing. I would be a terrific motivational speaker for them at any future corporate event or conference.
A whole week passed and I heard nothing. Had I overplayed my hand and come on too strong? Then on the tenth day, I opened my computer and lo and behold, there was a response to my e-mail. I opened it with trepidation. What I read amazed me.
Twenty five years ago, a few weeks before my accident, he had started taking out one of my housemates. Apparently while I was in a coma, he went with her to visit me in hospital. There he had met Mum and Dad. He knew all about me! He had passed on my information to his marketing department and they would be in touch.

I stared at the e-mail in amazement. Glory be, isn’t it strange the twists and turns that make up life. This “boyfriend” then went on to become CEO of Discovery Health. I did not die as expected, and years later approached him about advertising on my blog. I don’t believe in coincidence. I don’t believe in chance. I believe that there is a plan in our intersections. We have choices as to how we act. I smile at the the two of us “encountering” each other twenty five years later. His marketing department duly got in touch with me. I would appear on Discovery’s website as their Medical Miracle. That would give me unbelievable exposure.
And so the making of Medical Miracle began……

*

You can have a have a look at my full Discovery ‘Medical Miracle’ piece by clicking here

This is the film we made together!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07C3M-wzHkA&app=desktop

The post A miracle in the making! appeared first on 'ear 'ear! by Gaynor Young.

“People, people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world….”
I smile as I hum along to Barbra Streisand’s well known voice. Yes, I am one of the lucky ones. I definitely need people. I need people to love and to be loved by, to laugh with, to chat to, to be around. I need people to have different opinions and thereby broaden my outlook and horizons. Looking at the lives of people, one is often inspired to improve the way in which one lives one’s own life.
Nisha is one of those “people”.
Nisha has Cerebral Palsy. This is a neurological condition that affects movement and co-ordination. It is caused in the parts of the brain responsible for controlling muscles. The condition can occur if the brain develops abnormally or is damaged before, during or shortly after birth. The main symptoms are: muscle stiffness or floppiness, muscle weakness, random and uncontrolled body movements, balance and co-ordination problems. Intelligence is not affected.
Nisha has acute CP so is wheelchair bound. She remembers as a child watching other children playing tag and hopscotch and so wanting to join in. Do you remember the game of elastic where two people stood with a long piece of elastic around their bodies while the third person hopped in, out and around the elastic? She was able to participate in that game because they could put the elastic around her chair. But that was all she was able to do.
For months after my accident, I remember being stuck in a wheelchair. I hated it. As a result I was not a very pleasant person to be around. But my wheelchair days fortunately proved temporary. Unlike Nisha.
“Why?”, she asked her Lord, “why?” She stared helplessly up at the night sky. “Do you love me? Do you hate me? Do you even know I exist, Lord? Why do I have to go through all of this? Why me, Father, why me?”
A gentle voice replied: “Why not you?”
“What….?”
That floored her for a moment. “Well…do You mean You want me like this? Why? What good am I like this?”
Nisha claims she heard a voice say: “I want you to show everyone that anybody can make a difference and change the world.” A gentle laugh. “Even you in a wheelchair!”
She remembers thinking: I can’t even go the bathroom by myself! How on earth does He expect me to make a change in the world? Lying looking up at the millions of stars gazing down on her, Nisha realised that to change your reality, you have to shift your perception. Instead of thinking of herself as being wheelchair bound, she must run and leap and dance in other ways. She had a strong mind and…..the Internet at her fingertips. And so, Nisha began to jeté, pirouette and twirl her way forward!
On March 5th 2010, Nisha began her Clean Water for All Campaign. The objectives of the campaign were to raise $6500 for The Water Project. This is an organisation that aims to provide clean water to drought ridden communities all over the world. She wrote blogs drawing attention to this water deficit in African countries and she managed to raise $7862. This was enough money to build a hand pumped well in Kenya! I can just imagine Nisha’s reaction at having finally raised sufficient funds to afford that well. “I proved that anybody can make a difference and change the world – even me: a nineteen-year-old girl in a wheelchair!”
She began to see that this young woman in her wheelchair was indeed making a difference in the world.
“Sometimes life gives you lemons,” says Nisha. “I realised that it’s up to you what you do with them. I am making lemonade out of my lemons. I blog about my experiences at Life and Living With Cerebral Palsy and I fundraise for worthy causes. My current campaign is Educate Generations, on behalf of the Malala Fund.
In 2009, Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl, began writing a blog on BBC Urdu about life in the Swat Valley as the Taliban gained control, at times banning girls from attending school. Malala began to appear in both Pakistani and international media advocating education for all, irrespective of gender. In October 2012, gunmen boarded Malala’s school bus and shot her in the face, a bullet passed through her head and into her shoulder. Remarkably, Malala survived the shooting. At a very young age, she has become a worldwide symbol of courage and hope. Her shooting sparked a wave of solidarity across Pakistan, not to mention globally, for the right to education, freedom from terror and female emancipation. She was awarded The Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.
Nisha read her book I am Malala and it moved her deeply. Like Malala she believes that education is vital to girls and boys alike. By not having an education, women are needlessly diminished. “I know that education empowers women in every aspect. Women who are not fortunate enough to have this learning have little or no power in their lives.”
Nisha’s goal is to raise $2,500 or more for the Malala Fund. She desperately wants help these hapless girls receive an education. At the moment she has raised $1860
“People have been amazing with their generosity and I am so grateful. But they mustn’t stop! People should continue to donate to my campaign. It will be further proof that people of differing abilities can change the world!”
People, people who need people are the luckiest people in the world…..I need people like Nisha in my life. There is always going to be someone better or worse off than you. That is not the point. What stands out in Nisha’s life is that she is giving the best she has, in the way best for her to give. As she says: “I believe it is my duty as a human being to leave the world a little better than it was when I got here.”
And she is changing the world, in her own way.
I am humbled.

If you wish to donate to Nisha’s Educate Generations Fundraising Project

Click here!

The post When life gives you lemons! appeared first on 'ear 'ear! by Gaynor Young.

This is my one hundredth blog!

(Just click on the photo if you wish to view the full blog!)

Slippery Fish
We are all creators! We create all the time.
I give a laugh at Dejan Stojanovic. He sums up my thoughts completely when he says: “Creating means living.”  www.earearblog.com/slippery-fish

Twas the Night before Christmas
What were your childhood Christmases like?
I’m so lucky. For me, Christmas was the most magical, enchanting time.

“He who SMILES while crushing YOU’ 
Zuma’s middle name is “Gedleyihlekisa” which means: “He who smiles while crushing you.” Indeed, he certainly seems to be smiling while crushing the life out of South Africa.

And I am whispering….Madonsela for President!

To Grow or Not to Grow……?
I love this blog because of Matt’s letter in it. It is the most beautiful love letter I have ever received!

Girls need not wear pink! 
“If someone’s not a feminist, I ask why, what is your problem?” asks Dale Spence.
What is your problem indeed, I echo?

Defining Moments!
This blog will always be special to me. In it, it is Erin’s words to me that caused me to re-define myself. I have stopped asking the unanswerable: Why did God allow my accident to happen? Instead I ask with a smile: Why did God allow me to live?

Shocking!
I was so delighted with the NSPCA’s behaviour concerning the Knysna Elephant Park that this blog came into being. When wanting a photograph of Lawrence Anthony, I wrote to his widow, Francoise. I think a friendship is beginning to form between Francoise and I. I would like that!

The Goddess of Rainbows!
On reading over all my blogs I was amazed at how my writing has improved. One looks at my first few blogs and then one reads this one. My writing skill is improving!

And finally how could I not include this!

The Wonder!
The second most life changing event of my 53 years!

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The post Yay!!! appeared first on 'ear 'ear! by Gaynor Young.

Ok everyone my blog has been restored (with The Wonder) to it’s former glory. I am sorry for all the extra emails some of you have been getting but unfortunately in restoring my blogs my tech team could not stop these being sent out. We have now put in place significant security enhancements which should prevent this from happening again!!!!!

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