Eric's Hearing Loss & Education Cost

My name is Eric Wendt, and for those of you who don’t know me, I’d like to tell you a little bit about myself.  I am 30 years young, and have always been active, especially when working with my hands.  I grew up in a mechanically driven family—my grandfather, and uncle were huge influences to me as a child.  They owned and built several award winning classic Studebakers.  For the last five years I worked in the aftermarket automotive industry, as a professional metal fabricator.  I’ve had the opportunity to work on award-winning classic cars and I quickly fell in love with the physically taxing, but emotionally fulfilling “dirty hand therapy.”  Long days of loud metal work in a top notch, busy machine shop were exciting but started to become difficult for reasons unknown.

In the summer of 2018, I saw a general care physician who then recommended I see an audiologist.  I found out in September 2018 I had been living with sensorineural degenerative hearing loss which surprisingly was not caused by damage or exposure to loud noises.  Sensorineural degenerative hearing loss is a hereditary issue that would require me to be in hearing aids full time, for the remainder of my life.  My audiologist informed me, based on testing, I have 75dB of hearing loss, which is considered the second to last stage from total loss.  I was absolutely devastated to learn that I was losing and continuing to lose something I love so much—my hearing.  We all depend on our senses, but as a former musician and audiophile, I felt massively heartbroken that my hearing loss would not only take away the pleasure of literal music, and ease of communication; but was making my day to day life almost impossible to live.  I was left feeling mentally attacked regardless of hearing protection by the constant grinding, screeching and hammering that I was surrounded by day in and day out at the shop.  After years of difficulty with my memory, abilities to converse, physical exhaustion and depression, I learned it was all related to my untreated hearing loss.

After much consideration, I reached out to my employer and asked if I could use my experience and passion for metal fabrication in a different department within the company, one that was a bit quieter and albeit better for my health.  Sadly, they were not able to accommodate my disability and I was recently let go from that job.

I have spent years furthering my fabrication education and I now find myself unable to work in that environment.  I now need to change my career path to a job which suits my disability but also my potential to help others with their disabilities and a step towards a better quality of life.  Throughout this long process of learning to live with my hearing loss, I’ve come to appreciate “man’s best friend” a little differently.

My best friend and sidekick is my Doberman mix rescue, Ghost.  He and I do everything together, and after adopting him we enrolled in a great training program to better strengthen our relationship.  I highly enjoyed the classes, and after recently meeting with the owner of that program, and doing some extensive research, I am striving to find the means to attend a professional dog trainer certification school myself.  My goal is to help others with disabilities grow closer to their four-legged friends and lean on them when they need the extra help.  Here, I will develop the knowledge and skills of service dog training as well as obedience, behavior modification and personal protection.  This is an amazing opportunity for my future, but one that comes at a high cost.  Tuition, housing, supplies and basic living expenses for the six-month certification program will cost me upwards of $35,000.

I am proud of what I have been able to accomplish in my life.  But currently I am financially unable to afford schooling, or finding a feasible career to make ends meet as my educational knowledge is strictly in a field I can no longer endure.  With the savings I previously had being spent on medical bills relating to my hearing loss, and the inability to receive student loans for this program, I am attempting to do something even harder than learning to live with this disability, and that is to ask for financial help.  If you are feeling generous, know somebody who can understand the difficulties of living with a disability and how assistive dogs can help, or just have a soft spot for dogs, I would greatly appreciate any and all the help you can give.  

Whether or not you are currently able to contribute on a monetary level, please help spread the word by sharing this page with others within your network of friends and family.  Thank you again for letting me share my story with you.  Stay tuned for updates throughout this new journey I am embarking on.