BRAVE burns victim Terri Calvesbert is today 'earing all about her next operation.

BRAVE burns victim Terri Calvesbert is today 'earing all about her next operation.

The ten-year-old lost both of her ears when fire ravaged her bedroom as she slept in a cot in 1998.

But thanks to the wonders of medical science, Terri and her father Paul Calvesbert are today looking forward to plastic surgery which will give her new ears and better hearing.

The operation will be performed at Great Ormand Street Hospital (GOSH), London, which has a paediatric ear, nose and throat referral centre for children with complicated problems.

Mr Calvesbert, who lives with Terri and his fiancee Nicky Lowry at Shakespeare Road, north west Ipswich, said: “She had the first stage done and had a plate put underneath her skin at Mount Vernon Hospital in Middlesex. But its plastics department closed down so everything came to a halt.

“These are exciting times for Terri now.

“Someone at the hospital has a catalogue of ears for us to look through so we can pick some.

“It's quite funny, we keep joking and saying maybe she could have one pair for staying in, and another special pair of going out ears!

“She's really excited. She keeps laughing and joking and saying she wants them pierced.

“The only help with hearing she gets at the moment is at school, where her teacher wears a microphone and Terri has an earphone. That's not suitable for her in everyday life though.”

Terri, who goes to Whitehouse Junior School, has her next appointment with her GOSH consultant in September.

The operation has both cosmetic and health benefits.

Terri is partially deaf and unable to pick up high-pitched noises. There is nowhere to attach a normal hearing aid and a bone-anchored hearing aid (a permanent implant inserted into skull) because of the extent of her injuries.

The operation, expected to take two days, will be carried out at the end of the year.

The family want 2008 to be an operation free year for Terri as Paul and Nicky are getting married.

Terri was asleep in her home in November 1998 when flames swept through her bedroom and caused burns to 85 per cent of her body.

Doctors at Broomfield Hospital's specialist burns unit, Chelmsford, have performed a host of skin grafts and other operations on her over the years since.

Donations to The Terri Calvesbert Appeal, to help her future needs, can be sent to Michelle Dorrell, editor's secretary, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4 1AN.

N Have you had life changing plastic surgery? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk