McKenna Perez is a bright bubbly fourth grader who loves 4H and reading, but she also had an obvious secret.
Her right ear folded down on itself. It didn't bother her, but the way her classmates reacted to her ear hurt McKenna.
"They would say that I just had a weird ear and some people wouldn't let me play with them because of my ear," she said.
She kept the pain to herself.
"A lot of times she didn't tell us anything was going on. We really didn't know a lot of the interaction going on at school. She was always at home happy (and) bubbly. It was a lot through the teachers that we found out," said McKenna's mother Tami Perez.
McKenna was born with an ear defect to her right ear. She had no ear canal, no ear drum and her outer ear was folded over.
A surgeon opened her ear canal and implanted an artificial eardrum to give her hearing for thefirst time in her right ear, but operations performed when McKenna was 4 and 5-years-old failed to stand her outer ear up.
"She was the one was said, 'Hey I want to get my ear fixed' and we made that opportunity happen for her," sai McKenna's dad K.C. Perez.
McKenna was eventually referred to Facial Plastic Surgeon Doctor Steven Mobley.
He has has a story of his own.
"I was born with sort of abnormally shaped ears. In my case they stuck away from my head a pretty good amount," said Mobley.
Kids would call him names in middle school.
The name calling stopped when he grew his hair out over his ears.
His guise worked until Tom Cruise made short hair popular in the 1980's.
"Once I could no longer hide it, I wanted to have it addressed," said Mobley.
A surgeon pinned his ears back during a 2 hour procedure.
"I was amazed how easy having surgery was," said Mobley.
Dr. Mobley and McKenna's attention grabbing ears welded a bond between the two.
They understand one another and how name calling and awkward stares can hurt.
"I was very self-conscious about my ear," said McKenna.
Mobley's first surgery on McKenna's ear was performed three years ago.
"We put in some permanent strong stitches that would unfold the ear making it more vertically correct," said Mobley.
A second a final surgery followed in March 2011.
"We used a special smoothing sanding drill device," said Mobley.
McKenna remembers how nervous she was before looking at her ear.
"I'm just so happy that doctor Mobley has fixed it. I'm very proud. I like to pull my hair backnow...I think its amazing from what I've seen in the past," said McKenna.
Doctor Mobley is reaching out to other young children with large ears or ear with defects.
He wants to perform surgery free of charge though his nonprofit organization The Mobley Foundation, but he needs to find the right candidate.
"We can help children. There's no cost if you qualify and it's literally their just to help kids not be bullied and teased to not go through what I went through and that's our biggest goal," said Mobley.
Children who receive free or reduced lunches qualify for Dr. Mobley's help.
You can find contact information for Dr. Mobley on his website mobleymd.org. Scroll down to the bottom of the foundation's page to find Dr. Mobley's contact information.
Her right ear folded down on itself. It didn't bother her, but the way her classmates reacted to her ear hurt McKenna.
"They would say that I just had a weird ear and some people wouldn't let me play with them because of my ear," she said.
She kept the pain to herself.
"A lot of times she didn't tell us anything was going on. We really didn't know a lot of the interaction going on at school. She was always at home happy (and) bubbly. It was a lot through the teachers that we found out," said McKenna's mother Tami Perez.
McKenna was born with an ear defect to her right ear. She had no ear canal, no ear drum and her outer ear was folded over.
A surgeon opened her ear canal and implanted an artificial eardrum to give her hearing for thefirst time in her right ear, but operations performed when McKenna was 4 and 5-years-old failed to stand her outer ear up.
"She was the one was said, 'Hey I want to get my ear fixed' and we made that opportunity happen for her," sai McKenna's dad K.C. Perez.
McKenna was eventually referred to Facial Plastic Surgeon Doctor Steven Mobley.
He has has a story of his own.
"I was born with sort of abnormally shaped ears. In my case they stuck away from my head a pretty good amount," said Mobley.
Kids would call him names in middle school.
The name calling stopped when he grew his hair out over his ears.
His guise worked until Tom Cruise made short hair popular in the 1980's.
"Once I could no longer hide it, I wanted to have it addressed," said Mobley.
A surgeon pinned his ears back during a 2 hour procedure.
"I was amazed how easy having surgery was," said Mobley.
Dr. Mobley and McKenna's attention grabbing ears welded a bond between the two.
They understand one another and how name calling and awkward stares can hurt.
"I was very self-conscious about my ear," said McKenna.
Mobley's first surgery on McKenna's ear was performed three years ago.
"We put in some permanent strong stitches that would unfold the ear making it more vertically correct," said Mobley.
A second a final surgery followed in March 2011.
"We used a special smoothing sanding drill device," said Mobley.
McKenna remembers how nervous she was before looking at her ear.
"I'm just so happy that doctor Mobley has fixed it. I'm very proud. I like to pull my hair backnow...I think its amazing from what I've seen in the past," said McKenna.
Doctor Mobley is reaching out to other young children with large ears or ear with defects.
He wants to perform surgery free of charge though his nonprofit organization The Mobley Foundation, but he needs to find the right candidate.
"We can help children. There's no cost if you qualify and it's literally their just to help kids not be bullied and teased to not go through what I went through and that's our biggest goal," said Mobley.
Children who receive free or reduced lunches qualify for Dr. Mobley's help.
You can find contact information for Dr. Mobley on his website mobleymd.org. Scroll down to the bottom of the foundation's page to find Dr. Mobley's contact information.
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