To mark my 40th birthday I wanted to do something special.

I wanted to invite all those people who have touched my life in some way - at some point (so if you're reading this - that means you!!).

And I wanted to raise money for something dear to my heart. It's a charity in Israel that helps children with hearing impairment live in the hearing world.

I know it's a lot to read but please take the time (press the read more button!!!)...

I have identical twin cousins - Dana and Tamar Tal-El, 19, who were born when I was on my shnat year in Israel.  They were diagnosed with profound hearing impairment at the age of two and doctors said they would never be able to speak normally, learn normally and that they would most certainly never serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

But Dana and Tamar learned to speak almost flawlessly, and the pair went to regular schools.  I was so proud when I heard from their Mum that they proved the doctors’ wrong again when they commenced their service with the IDF - Dana as a photographer for the air force, and Tamar as a soldier-teacher for children with difficult home lives in one of Israel’s development towns. Tamar is off to Officer training in October!

My cousin, their Mum, had many negative experiences when her children were diagnosed.  They were told "that they would be special needs, and need special education, and they would never be like everybody else,”

She and her husband, Eli, thought that their children could do better and, along with another couple (who also have two hearing-impaired children), put their heads together and, in 1995, the non-profit organization A.V. Israel was born.

With offices in Ra’anana and Jerusalem, A.V. Israel is dedicated to helping deaf children and their parents by providing audiological testing and diagnostic assessments; state-of-the-art technology, including cochlear implants, digital hearing aids and assistive FM devices; auditory-verbal (A.V.) education and speech therapy, as well as counseling and professional training, with the ultimate goal of teaching deaf children to “listen” and speak, so that they could integrate into mainstream schools and the culture of the hearing world.

In most cases of hearing impairment, the auditory nerve is still intact, and although it doesn’t function on its own, it is possible to stimulate this nerve with electronic impulses, such as those produced by a cochlear implant or other advanced hearing device. Although the sound that is produced by this stimulation is not identical to that produced in a normally functioning auditory system, it is a sound that the brain can translates into meaningful speech and language.

The benefits of this approach are manifold: first, the normal physiological stimulation of the brain enables people to learn speech and language naturally, through listening, the way hearing people do; secondly, it is not necessary for individuals with a cochlear implant to see other people when they speak; and thirdly, the sound of the speech if the hearing impaired is much more proximate to normal speech.

So much so that Dana says when she speaks, people sometimes ask her if she has a foreign accent, rather than a hearing impairment.

Today, A.V. Israel helps hundreds of families around the country with graduates living out there in the hearing world. They provide weekly therapy for 50 kids in the Jerusalem center and see over 200 kids in the Ra'anana center.  They are also involved in a cochlear implant mapping (fine-tuning) project at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem and the programme at Shaare Zedek began in January 2009, now serving almost 30 children with cochlear implants!

They are growing by the minute! The progress of the field in Israel can be mapped by Dana & Tamar, the centre’s first “graduates.” they had to go to New York for their first cochlear implants at age three, and by the time they were ready for their second implants, at age 14, they were able to have the surgery in Israel.

Please help Elaine and Eli continue to help other children in Israel.

You will be donating through the UJIA as AV Israel is not registered in the UK but I guarantee ALL monies donated through this page will be given to AV Israel.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and I can't wait to see you at my PARTY!!!!!