Anne:
Can you try to see if they will put your video online or on you-tube. I'd love to show my son who has microtia.

Thanks,
Tom

Hi everyone! I'm so happy to be able to share with you all. I actually did not see the Ellen show, but my sister in-law told me about the show (I guess a rerun) and said I should google it :) Well, where to start..

I am 34 years old and was born with right ear microtia. My life was pretty normal up until my junior high years. That's when I started to wear my hair down and became very self conscience about my ear, due to a few "bullies" who pretty much destroyed a human's dignity. At that time, my parents looked into having reconstructive surgery...with my then current situation, I agreed to have the surgery. At that time there was to be a series of 4 operations which included taking cartlidge from underneath my left rib cage, skin graph (sp?) from my right buttock, and pulling the bone under my skin away from my head..and inserting the skin graph behind the "ear" as to have a normal looking right ear. Well, after being in horrendous pain with the first surgery (cartlidge taken from rib cage), I could not walk for almost a week! I was 13 years old. The second surgery was the skin graph. I had to change my dressing every so often..one occasion I blacked out because I lost so much blood from my buttock tissue...the third surgery consisted of moving the earlobe down to a normal place on the reconstructive ear. After the third surgery, I had enough. I could not go on with the pain and thought of being put to sleep another time. The fourth surgery was supposed to just clean up the ear..so I asked my parents if I could pass.

Well, as time went on, I started to notice something...as I (my body) was growing, so was my right ear! By the time I hit my growth, I now had an ear about an inch larger than my real left ear. I regretted my choice in having surgery all due to emotions. I grew up and realized that the people around me (friends and family), loved me for me..not my appearance. So many people do not even notice unless I mention it. I wear my hair up sometimes..and I still get some stares now and then, but it doesn't matter to me anymore.

NOW...well, I have 4 kids..and believe me, I checked each and every one of their ears at birth. My fourth child (now 5 years old) was my baby..yep, my husband whispered those words in my ear that I will never forget..."babe, the baby has the same ear as you do". Oh the pain in my heart just bursted! "No! Why God? Why would you allow MY daughter to go through what I have gone through?!" Oh and so many more words...I went into depression for three months! Then I realized that I had to change this around for good. I wasn't sure how, but I'm just now starting to understand what I can do, help others get through this without surgery. Well, my first questions went to my surgeon for some answers. Dr. Burt Brent..yes, the same doctor who is going to perform the surgery on the young lady on the Ellen show. It is definitely hereditary (sp?) he said..and now my chances of having a child with the same is greater. It happend on my fourth child...her chances are greater than my other three children as well. He told me that he could perform the surgery on her when she was a little older. I told him that I was not satisfied with the surgery he performed on me 15 years prior. My ear does not look like an ear, and it is very large. He looked at the ear and agreed it needed to be "fixed"..and that after a few "patients" inquired about their larger ear..he did more research and realized the cartlidge he made into ears, grows as well...thanks Dr. Brent! He said that in medicine, doctors are always learning more and more.

After leaving his office, I told my husband.."honey, I am going to raise this baby as normal as possible. I am going to make sure her self esteem is not diminished and help her realize how truley AWESOME we are! Yes, people may ask..and that's ok, but I am NOT going to allow my daughter to get BUTCHERED like I had been just so a doctor can tell me he learned something more after he's performed on innocent lives..innocent CHILDREN for the sake of what? Medicine? No, this is not helping anyone..." My husband agreed. Well, three years ago my sister (normal in every way) had her second son, he was born with microtia. Talk about a whammy in our family! Well, it just made us stronger than ever to get the word out there!

It is ok..there is nothing wrong with the parents or the children. Our hearing is normal...actually, my husband calls me super sonic, because I can hear the smallest of noises! It's a blessing to be able to hear from one ear more than the other. LOL..My daughter wears her hair up..she calls it her little ear (and yes, she is my Nemo). When she was younger she would pick the phone up and talk/listen with her right ear :) We can hear on the right side..it's just muffled...like having cotton deep in your ear. She is in kindergarten, and at first the kids inquired..of course, it's different and kids are precious with their questions..we just told them she was born special. "God made her special" :) the kids would say "oh" and go on with their business. Honestly, if we don't make a big deal about it..people won't either. I've learned so much from my daughter than I have in my 29 years before my baby girl. She's strong, vibrant and full of life! All great traits to have in life.

My sister has found a prostetic expert on the East Coast..Robert Barron (Virginia I believe). He is an advocate against doctors claiming to make an ear out of something..when in fact, it's false hope to parents. I feel sad for the many, many parents who feel that they need to do something for their children. Honestly, the pain and suffering of the surgeries is not worth it at all. When my sister told me about Robert, I felt an immediate relief that someone was actually going to these medical "meetings" and standing up for people like us with microtia. He himself even used the same words I've thought all my life.."butchering children". Come to find out, he's been on many tv shows as well for his work in prostetics. He is a retired CIA and is legit.

There are other options beside the reconstructive surgery..prostetic, which I also learned are not all the same either. Key is to DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE MAKE ANY DECISIONS. This is a child's life we are talking about. Doing nothing at all is another option. I have made the decision to allow my daughter to make whatever decision she needs to make when that time comes..and NOT an emotional one. I have the scars and a bone on my right ear area to show how an emotional decision changed my life. If I could do it over..I would not have had the surgery done. Unfortunately, many parents did not have the luxury of internet to do the homework first back then.

Sorry for the long comment Ellen :) and everyone, but I just felt I needed to say something this time. I've been quiet too long..and too long is not good. There are alot of kids out there who need a mouth. Take care and God bless...

Elia

HI Ellen!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your interest in Anne Jensen's story and thank you to Anne for your courage to share your story and help so many!! My 4th daughter was born last feb (she just turned one and what a cutie she is!!) with RMA (right microtia atresia) and we call it her "lucky ear" just like nemo too! Did you ever learn ASL or need to use it? I am guessing from your beautiful voice, maybe not :) I have done a ton of research and we aren't sure what path we are going to take in terms of surgeries, but I just wanted to thank you for giving this rare abnormality some exposure. There are so many inspirational people out there that have accomplished so much without 100% hearing, so thanks for airing this story and giving our kids something to look up to!! With 4 little ones under the age of 8, I don't get to watch non-PBS often, but when I do, I think you are hysterical. Thanks again and keep rockin'!! Anne, best of luck with your surgery...I hear Dr. Brent is the best!

Danielle C.
Boston, MA

Anne, if you read this please advise!!! MY son Cole is three months old and was born with microtia atresia. One of the new surgeries out requires getting the atresia corrected first. I was always planning on having his outter ear fixed and then waiting to see how he felt about the atresia surgery because of certain risks involved. I notice that you speak perfectly and have a pretty singing voice. How important is it that you have hearing in that ear as well? I missed the show so if you already talked about this i apologize. What would you have wanted done for you?

Anne, if you read this please advise!!! MY son Cole is three months old and was born with microtia atresia. One of the new surgeries out requires getting the atresia corrected first. I was always planning on having his outter ear fixed and then waiting to see how he felt about the atresia surgery because of certain risks involved. I notice that you speak perfectly and have a pretty singing voice. How important is it that you have hearing in that ear as well? I missed the show so if you already talked about this i apologize. What would you have wanted done for you?

My 20 year old daughter was born with microtia of her right ear. Is there a doctor out there who will do this surgery for her even though she is over 18 and a full time student in college?

Hi everyone! I am Anne Jensen, and was on the Ellen show last week. What a dream come true. I have been a huge fan of Ellen's for years, and it was so lovely to meet her. Some of you had some questions that I thought I may be able to answer.
The doctor I will be getting my ear surgery from is Dr. Burt Brent. His office is located in Woodside, Ca., which is just outside of San Francisco. He specializes in Microtia ear reconstruction. Please google him to find out more info. I'm not quite sure when I will get my ear surgery, because I won't be getting my "game-show- money" for 4 months. So I haven't called their office to set it up yet.
To "Mary", who thinks it's genetic, I (so far) haven't seen any studies that have proved it. My mother always felt guilty and thought she had given it to me, but I just found an article that said there is no specific reason it occurs.
And as for anyone with a kid under 18 who has Microtia and has health insurance, please don't be scared to ask doctors questions about it, and to do more research online. When a child is under 18, the reconstructive surgery is covered through your insurance (as far as I know.)
And finally, to the lady who called it "Nemo ear", I was so excited to see that movie and to see that Nemo had a small ear. Finally, a Disney character I can relate to.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
-Anne Jensen

My son (now 32)was born with microtia and now has a prosthetic ear that he glues on every day. I am also interested in knowing the name of the doctor who will be doing Anne's surgery and where it will take place. I didn't actually see the show but my aunt (who is a loyal fan and watches every day) called me to tell me about Anne. Thank you for any help you can provide.

Hi Ellen,

Thanks for sharing Anne's story with everyone. My son Alex is 3 and he was also born with microtia. I am a research freak and have so much information about it. There is so much information out there for microtia. Alex has no clue anything is "wrong" with him because there isn't. It isn't an illness and is considered an anamoly. Microtia occurs in 1 of every 10,000 births.

Thank you soo much for including the story of microtia on your show and bringing it into everyone's homes!!

Judy
California

I too watched the show and I have twin 5 year old nieces with this illness. Can you get us more information on this? In our case it looks gentic on their mother side but we don't hear much abouth this kind of stuff.

Hi Ellen,

Can you please post the doctor's name and clinic to where Anne Jensen will be having her surgery for her Microtia.

Thanks,
Amber W
Queensville, ON

Dear Ellen,
I live in Indiana & my daughter lives in Tennessee. We watch your show together every Tues.(which is our day off work)and share every hilarious minute over the phone. Morgan, my daughter, is a singer/songwriter and she has recently released a beautiful R&B love song that you & Portia might enjoy. I hope you'll check it out on Ebonyivoryentertainment.com. Thank you for making us laugh Ellen! All the best to you, BUNNY

I saw the show to!! Our 3 year old son has nemo ear as we call it. Our ENT has never specifed it as microtia but after doing some research it sure does look like it.
Shanti
Amanda L
Farmington Hills, MI

Hi Ellen! I saw the show thursday the one with Anne Jensen. My daughter Nola (we are new orleans fans) was born with microtia too. will you have any updates about her operation?
Thank you for your time:)
Larissa B
Dodge Center, MN