By Kelsey Durham
A few months ago, Brooklyn resident Dan Moynihan sent an e-mail that would end up changing his life forever.
At the time, the 49-year-old, who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, had gone years without being able to hear in his right ear after being diagnosed in 2009 with an acoustic neuroma, a tumor doctors say he likely developed as a result of exposure to carcinogens when he responded as a volunteer firefighter to the World Trade Center Sept. 11, 2001.
In 2012, Moynihan had surgery to remove the tumor, and the doctors told him there was a good chance he would lose his hearing on the right side.
“I thought I was prepared, but you’re never really prepared for the loss of your hearing,” he said. “I would have to fake conversations in restaurants with friends because I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I couldn’t even locate my phone at home when it started to ring.”
Though Moynihan is also a former U.S. Marine who is covered by benefits through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, most insurance plans — including his own — do not cover the cost of hearing aids, which he said can cost thousands of dollars to purchase and have fitted.
Frustrated with the disability he was left with, Moynihan made a desperate plea for help.
“I posted a message on Facebook asking if anyone knew someone in the hearing industry that I could talk to,” he said.
A friend of Moynihan’s suggested he speak to Dr. Alison Hoffmann, a seasoned audiologist and co-owner of Advanced Hearing Center in Floral Park. Queens. Moynihan sent Hoffmann an e-mail in March explaining his condition and promptly received a response saying she was willing to help.
By the end of April, less than a month after Moynihan first reached out to her, Hoffmann had worked with a manufacturer called Widex to secure a top-of-the-line hearing aid worth roughly $7,000 that they partnered together to have donated to him at no cost.
“I was so touched by someone who was so negatively impacted by being a Good Samaritan and I just felt something good should come his way,” Hoffmann said.
Having three brothers and a father who were New York City firefighters, Hoffmann said she was particularly interested in Moynihan’s story because of the personal connection she has with the FDNY and those who were affected by 9/11.
“I definitely had a lot of empathy for what he went through and I guess it touched a little bit closer to home,” she said. “I mean, we’re from New York. How can you not be affected by 9/11 and what it’s done to all of us?”
Within weeks, Moynihan was in Hoffmann’s office and was ready to receive the hearing system Widex and Hoffmann were able to get for him, a state-of-the-art piece that wirelessly transmits sound from his left ear to his right, which he had lost the ability to use.
Moynihan said he was floored by the generosity and never expected Hoffmann would be able to give him help to this extreme, and when he put it in for the first time, Hoffmann said his amazing reaction made it worthwhile.
“He started crying in our office, and then all the sudden everyone in the room was crying,” she said. “He couldn’t believe how well he could hear everyone in the room.”
For the first time in his life, Moynihan said he was able to hear his 3-year-old nephew talking and laughing. He no longer had to ask people to stand on his left side in order to hear them talk, and he said the device has made him a happier person and drastically changed his life.
“I’m so incredibly appreciative,” he said. “You always hear about all the negative things, but this proves that there are people who actually care enough to do something wonderful. It’s so amazing and it really does make an impact.”
Reach reporter Kelsey Durham at 718-260-4573 or by e-mail at kdurham@cnglocal.com.
