Please help me raise as much money as possible to help my friend Alex get a new ear. I am running the Junior Great North Run in September for Alex.

My friend Alex was born with Microtia or “small ear.” This condition affects around 1 in 6000 children. Boys are more often affected than girls and the right side is more commonly affected than the left. Rarely both ears are affected.

The cause of microtia is not fully understood. It seems that a small blood vessel vital to the tissue that forms the ear becomes blocked during embryonic development and this prevents normal formation of the ear.

The ear develops in the embryo during first few weeks of life. As it forms a recognisable shape it also moves upwards to the side of the head. Any interruption in this process results in microtia. Alex also has atresia, which is is the absence of an external ear canal and renders him deaf on that side. There are several ways to reconstruct his ear, but we’re trying to reach our initial target of £30,000 which will enable Alex to have the opportunity to travel to the USA to see specialist Dr John Reinisch to reconstruct Alex’s ear for him and restore his hearing.

 Dr John Reinisch, MD is Director of Craniofacial and Pediatric Plastic Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and a plastic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Group.

Formerly chairman of plastic surgery at the University of Southern California, Dr. Reinisch established the Division of Plastic Surgery at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles in 1983. Dr. Reinisch is the recipient of numerous awards including the Baby Randy award which honors service to children. He was also named one of the best doctors in Los Angeles by Los Angeles Magazine in 1997 and best children’s specialist by Parent Magazine.

 In 1991, Dr. Reinisch designed the cutting-edge technique for ear reconstruction utilizing a porous implant, Medpor that can be performed in children with microtia as young as three years of age. He has been utilizing Medpor for microtia exclusively for almost 20 years with successful results.