Boy, 8, born without ears receives new set

AKRON, Ohio -- Good luck finding anyone more proud of a set of ears than 8-year-old Elijah Bell. Eli was born without outer ears, ear openings and ear canals, a birth defect that only happens once in every 50,000 births.

"It was quite a shock at first," says his mother, Colleen Bell, told WEWS-TV.

A headband with boxes attached, known as "bone-anchored hearing aids" or BAHAs, allows him to hear normally, his mother explains, but what he was missing were those outer ears.

"Just seeing Elijah's journey kind of just unfold before our eyes has been really incredible and special," Colleen says.

Since 2012, Eli's had five surgeries with Dr. Ananth Murthy from Akron Children's Hospital leading the way.

"It's really kind of an artistic procedure," Dr. Murthy says.

To build ears for Eli, Dr. Murthy harvested the boy's rib cartilage and carved out pieces in the shape of ears, then attached them to Eli's head under a thin flap of skin.

"It's kind of like arts and crafts in there. We have essentially what amounts to an Exacto set with gouges and grooves," says Dr. Murthy.

Eli is excited to show off his new look at school while embracing his differences.

"I like being different," he says.

And Colleen says we can all learn from his journey.

"We thank God every day for the journey that our family has been on, that we can grow and teach our children just to trust in God and accept ourselves for who we are," she says.