May 12, 2024 • 12 mins
Original Air Date: May 12, 2024
Michelle Bana, one of our Hot Moms contestants, suffers from Usher Syndrome, which affects both vision and hearing. Tragically, her seeing eye dog died after a trainer left him in a hot car. Michelle is on a mission to save the lives of other pets, especially as we head into summer.
Michelle Bana, one of our Hot Moms contestants, suffers from Usher Syndrome, which affects both vision and hearing. Tragically, her seeing eye dog died after a trainer left him in a hot car. Michelle is on a mission to save the lives of other pets, especially as we head into summer.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,conversations about issues that matter. Here's your
host, three time Gracie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein. I would like to
welcome actually somebody who was part ofour Hot Mom's contest back in the day,
Michelle Krupa, who was joined herewith her husband Tom and they live
(00:23):
in Bellport. And we're going totalk about some serious issues. But first
Mother's Day? What do you wantto do for Mother's Day? Michelle?
I want to spend the day withmy kitch. I know a lot of
moms spend the day away from theirkids, but I wouldn't be a mom
if I didn't have my kids.So that's the most important thing to me.
(00:47):
You know, my son, myoldest son, once told me that
on his birthday. He said,Mom, this is your real Mother's Day
and kind of but I mean itwas very sweet. So tell me about
your children children. Wow. Theoldest is thirty five. She is and
she's an assistant at a georgistics school. Her name is Kathy and she's married
(01:14):
and she's in Patterson, New Jersey. I have a son, PJ,
who is a software engineer and agaming coach. And he's in Manhattan.
And I had my third son,Samuel. He's twenty six. He's newly
married, and he's an engineer.He works for the for the he's a
(01:36):
civilian inspector for the Navy. Idon't really understand everything. And the youngest
is twenty and he is a student. Wow, that is a lot,
And you know that would be mywish too, is to spend Mother's Day
with my kids, because two ofthem are in California. I mean the
(01:57):
one in Scranton, she'd better bewith me later on. Say she's in
big trouble. But anyway, youhad some serious serious health issues, a
rare syndrome. I want you totell the audience about that, and it
actually started much earlier in your life, but you were kind of poo poohed
(02:20):
by doctors, which happens to womena lot, a lot. I have
something called Usher syndrome, which iswhere I'm losing my sight and my hearing.
I was diagnosed with a hearing lossat three years old because I wasn't
responding to loud sounds and everything.But at thirteen I noticed I wasn't seeing
(02:40):
the same thing everybody else was.So we went to the doctors will I
asked my mom, and we wentto the optalmologist and he kind of just
brushed it off, saying that Iwas looking for attention. This is the
age of the girls want attention,and this isn't a good way to get
it. So he basically told herthat I had hysterical blindness. To go
(03:02):
and see to go and see apsychiatrist. So all through high school that's
what I did. I didn't reallytalk to a lot of people at school
because I didn't want them to knowthat I was crazy, you know.
So it was a very rough time. And then later in life, I
in my late twenties, I keptI met a friend, a female friend,
(03:25):
who said that, you know,doctors don't listen to us. Go
to my doctor. Don't tell himthat what the other doctor said. Just
let him examine it. So Igot my eyes dilated for the first time
in my late twenties and the doctorlooked at me and said, I don't
know how to tell you this,but you have incomplete retinas. And I
(03:47):
just started trying. I said,I'm not crazy, and he goes,
I have no idea what you're talkingabout. So I explained it to him.
And he got very upset because hesaid usher syndrome is known as if
you have a hearing a lot justpost to look for this. So,
so how did you hear at thatpoint? I mean, were you angry,
(04:09):
were you relieved or what? Andhow did you deal with this with
your parents? I was relieved andmy mom knew something was up, but
he couldn't get the doctors to listento us. So sorry about that.
I'm at the store. So Iwas throwing crazy, no, no,
(04:30):
that's okay, and dealing with allof this. You finally got yourself a
guide dog, and then there wasa tragedy involved. And that's actually why
Michelle is joining us today as awarning to pet owners. Yes, it
(04:53):
took me many years to find theright organization because with the hearing loss,
a lot of guide dogs places onlydeal with the blindness, they don't deal
with the deafness. Part two also, So I found the Guide Dog Foundation
in Smithtown and they got me aguide dog, you know, due to
(05:14):
the to the pandemic. I movedway up the least because I'm close to
them, and I got a wonderfuldog named named Milton. Then in September
of twenty twenty. Then in thebeginning of July twenty twenty two, I
went to I started the Helen KellerNational Center program, which is in Sands
(05:39):
Point. So my trainer had suggested, why don't we take Milton, that
was the guide dog named back togive him a little brushup of skills in
sitting still because he wasn't used tositting still. Unfortunately, while he was
there, they were taking him outfor the day and they put them in
(06:00):
the van and they forgot about themon a very hot day. So you
tragically died in the van. Andthat's what I'm trying to get out is
that if a trainer of twenty sixyears and that's her job can forget,
anybody can forget. You know,we're test human and we make mistakes.
But I'm trying to push out,please leave your door a home if you
(06:24):
have to, Please don't forget.It's very important. So if I can
save one doorge life and at leastit means something. You know, what
do you think that there's something thatvehicle manufacturers can do to prevent these tragedies.
(06:46):
I mean, we have this withwith children with babies. People forget,
you know, they're preoccupied. Imean, I don't understand how that
happens with your own baby, butit happens. It It happened because we
wind up getting so caught up inthe things we need to do, we
forget to do the thing that weforget to think about the things we are
(07:09):
doing. I wish they would havelike a separate back door lock, you
know, not that all the dooris locked at once, like you have
to look in or just you know, something that not every door locks it
once. You know, that wouldjust be so much easier. But I
don't know if that's the answer.You know, someone has called me to
(07:30):
say, like, if you havea child or a dog in the car
with you, take your shoes off, put them in the back seat.
That way, if you're done,you can't leave without your shoes or your
handbag. Yeah, something like that. You know, put something that you
need your phone, you know,if you're not supposed to be on it
(07:50):
when you drive anyway, So somethingin the backseat or next to the dog
or the baby, or something justthat you don't forget. Now, the
last time I checked in with you, Michelle, I'm speaking with Michelle Krupa
of Bellport. The last time Ichecked in with you, you you had
not yet decided to go the seeingeye dog route. Again. I don't
(08:15):
know if it was because it wastoo traumatic for you or what, But
where are you in this process now? I've reached out to the people that
work there. Now the people thatwere involved in Milton's desk for various reasons,
have left, so will' whaat andsee there. They're a wonderful organization.
(08:37):
They have done so much for forbesides the line for the Vet Shaw
show, you know, there's alot of vet dogs out there and that's
very important I feel. So I'mhoping that it continues to be good talks
and we can all get along.You know, it's just going to take
a process because so much has happened, and it just hopefully things work out.
(09:03):
And so much has happened in yourlife, so how how do you
cope with this? It's you know, it's a challenge. Saying it's a
challenge is not even giving enough creditto what you're handling. I just I
joke around that, I joke aroundthat as long as I'm beautiful, I
(09:24):
can handle anything, but well,you are beautiful inside and out. But
it's just basically knowing that that youhave. I can't explain it. Just
life is worth I wouldn't be hereif I wasn'tupposed to be here. Life
(09:46):
is worth living, life is worthenjoying. You know. There's so many
people to me, so many peopletoo, so many places to go.
If you didn't have something, thenthere's something wrong with you. You know.
Mind just happen to be more obviousthan most people. But I'm very
blacked to have four wonderful children,I have a wonderful husband, I have
(10:09):
a business. You know, inmany ways, I'm blessed, and that's
how I go on. I justkeep going. The negative is that she
has me so tom so, sotell me about how this is with spouse.
At times it could be trying,because you know, when you have
(10:30):
to multiple repeat yourselves so that youknow she hears you and whatnot. Sometimes,
you know, especially if you're havingone of those days, it's difficult.
But for the most part, Imean, I love it to death,
and there's there's nothing that I wouldn'tdo for her, and you know,
I support her and everything that shechooses to do as well as you
know. The I mean, atthe end of the day, This isn't
(10:50):
her fault. It's not something that'spreventable. So you know, I support
her one hundred percent. You know, do I get frustrated. Of course,
we all get frustrated. You know, nobody gets more frustrated than herself.
And I have to take into considerationthat she, you know, there's
nothing that she can do about it, and that's going to be the hardest
thing. You know. She's alwaysconstantly telling me. You know, I
(11:13):
thank you for being there for me, and thank you for that. I
said, you don't have to thankme. I'm your husband. This is
what I do. This is myjob. You know, I knew who
you were prior to marrying you.You know, it's not like, you
know, this was something that justcame on and you know you're not used
to you know, has it gottenworse, Yes, it's gotten worse.
You know. There's a lot oftimes where Michelle will call me and I'll
(11:39):
you know, and I'll say toher and I'm like, I'm not understanding
what you're saying. So then wewe have an affectionate joke between the two
of us. And most people sayto me, you know, you know
what keeps you? You know,your head on straight. I said,
well, every time Michelle and Ispeak, I said, she always says
what what? And I keep tellingher stop calling me by name. My
(12:01):
name is not what. I'm sorry, we are out of time. And
again, as a reminder, afterwhat the Krupas went through tragically losing their
dog, I love that idea ofputting your shoes or at least one shoe
in the back seat if you haveyour pet or your child in the back
(12:22):
seat on a warm day, sothat to prevent other tragedies. You've been
listening to Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio,a production of New York's classic rock Q
one four point three
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,conversations about issues that matter. Here's your
host, three time Gracie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein. I would like to
welcome actually somebody who was part ofour Hot Mom's contest back in the day,
Michelle Krupa, who was joined herewith her husband Tom and they live
(00:23):
in Bellport. And we're going totalk about some serious issues. But first
Mother's Day? What do you wantto do for Mother's Day? Michelle?
I want to spend the day withmy kitch. I know a lot of
moms spend the day away from theirkids, but I wouldn't be a mom
if I didn't have my kids.So that's the most important thing to me.
(00:47):
You know, my son, myoldest son, once told me that
on his birthday. He said,Mom, this is your real Mother's Day
and kind of but I mean itwas very sweet. So tell me about
your children children. Wow. Theoldest is thirty five. She is and
she's an assistant at a georgistics school. Her name is Kathy and she's married
(01:14):
and she's in Patterson, New Jersey. I have a son, PJ,
who is a software engineer and agaming coach. And he's in Manhattan.
And I had my third son,Samuel. He's twenty six. He's newly
married, and he's an engineer.He works for the for the he's a
(01:36):
civilian inspector for the Navy. Idon't really understand everything. And the youngest
is twenty and he is a student. Wow, that is a lot,
And you know that would be mywish too, is to spend Mother's Day
with my kids, because two ofthem are in California. I mean the
(01:57):
one in Scranton, she'd better bewith me later on. Say she's in
big trouble. But anyway, youhad some serious serious health issues, a
rare syndrome. I want you totell the audience about that, and it
actually started much earlier in your life, but you were kind of poo poohed
(02:20):
by doctors, which happens to womena lot, a lot. I have
something called Usher syndrome, which iswhere I'm losing my sight and my hearing.
I was diagnosed with a hearing lossat three years old because I wasn't
responding to loud sounds and everything.But at thirteen I noticed I wasn't seeing
(02:40):
the same thing everybody else was.So we went to the doctors will I
asked my mom, and we wentto the optalmologist and he kind of just
brushed it off, saying that Iwas looking for attention. This is the
age of the girls want attention,and this isn't a good way to get
it. So he basically told herthat I had hysterical blindness. To go
(03:02):
and see to go and see apsychiatrist. So all through high school that's
what I did. I didn't reallytalk to a lot of people at school
because I didn't want them to knowthat I was crazy, you know.
So it was a very rough time. And then later in life, I
in my late twenties, I keptI met a friend, a female friend,
(03:25):
who said that, you know,doctors don't listen to us. Go
to my doctor. Don't tell himthat what the other doctor said. Just
let him examine it. So Igot my eyes dilated for the first time
in my late twenties and the doctorlooked at me and said, I don't
know how to tell you this,but you have incomplete retinas. And I
(03:47):
just started trying. I said,I'm not crazy, and he goes,
I have no idea what you're talkingabout. So I explained it to him.
And he got very upset because hesaid usher syndrome is known as if
you have a hearing a lot justpost to look for this. So,
so how did you hear at thatpoint? I mean, were you angry,
(04:09):
were you relieved or what? Andhow did you deal with this with
your parents? I was relieved andmy mom knew something was up, but
he couldn't get the doctors to listento us. So sorry about that.
I'm at the store. So Iwas throwing crazy, no, no,
(04:30):
that's okay, and dealing with allof this. You finally got yourself a
guide dog, and then there wasa tragedy involved. And that's actually why
Michelle is joining us today as awarning to pet owners. Yes, it
(04:53):
took me many years to find theright organization because with the hearing loss,
a lot of guide dogs places onlydeal with the blindness, they don't deal
with the deafness. Part two also, So I found the Guide Dog Foundation
in Smithtown and they got me aguide dog, you know, due to
(05:14):
the to the pandemic. I movedway up the least because I'm close to
them, and I got a wonderfuldog named named Milton. Then in September
of twenty twenty. Then in thebeginning of July twenty twenty two, I
went to I started the Helen KellerNational Center program, which is in Sands
(05:39):
Point. So my trainer had suggested, why don't we take Milton, that
was the guide dog named back togive him a little brushup of skills in
sitting still because he wasn't used tositting still. Unfortunately, while he was
there, they were taking him outfor the day and they put them in
(06:00):
the van and they forgot about themon a very hot day. So you
tragically died in the van. Andthat's what I'm trying to get out is
that if a trainer of twenty sixyears and that's her job can forget,
anybody can forget. You know,we're test human and we make mistakes.
But I'm trying to push out,please leave your door a home if you
(06:24):
have to, Please don't forget.It's very important. So if I can
save one doorge life and at leastit means something. You know, what
do you think that there's something thatvehicle manufacturers can do to prevent these tragedies.
(06:46):
I mean, we have this withwith children with babies. People forget,
you know, they're preoccupied. Imean, I don't understand how that
happens with your own baby, butit happens. It It happened because we
wind up getting so caught up inthe things we need to do, we
forget to do the thing that weforget to think about the things we are
(07:09):
doing. I wish they would havelike a separate back door lock, you
know, not that all the dooris locked at once, like you have
to look in or just you know, something that not every door locks it
once. You know, that wouldjust be so much easier. But I
don't know if that's the answer.You know, someone has called me to
(07:30):
say, like, if you havea child or a dog in the car
with you, take your shoes off, put them in the back seat.
That way, if you're done,you can't leave without your shoes or your
handbag. Yeah, something like that. You know, put something that you
need your phone, you know,if you're not supposed to be on it
(07:50):
when you drive anyway, So somethingin the backseat or next to the dog
or the baby, or something justthat you don't forget. Now, the
last time I checked in with you, Michelle, I'm speaking with Michelle Krupa
of Bellport. The last time Ichecked in with you, you you had
not yet decided to go the seeingeye dog route. Again. I don't
(08:15):
know if it was because it wastoo traumatic for you or what, But
where are you in this process now? I've reached out to the people that
work there. Now the people thatwere involved in Milton's desk for various reasons,
have left, so will' whaat andsee there. They're a wonderful organization.
(08:37):
They have done so much for forbesides the line for the Vet Shaw
show, you know, there's alot of vet dogs out there and that's
very important I feel. So I'mhoping that it continues to be good talks
and we can all get along.You know, it's just going to take
a process because so much has happened, and it just hopefully things work out.
(09:03):
And so much has happened in yourlife, so how how do you
cope with this? It's you know, it's a challenge. Saying it's a
challenge is not even giving enough creditto what you're handling. I just I
joke around that, I joke aroundthat as long as I'm beautiful, I
(09:24):
can handle anything, but well,you are beautiful inside and out. But
it's just basically knowing that that youhave. I can't explain it. Just
life is worth I wouldn't be hereif I wasn'tupposed to be here. Life
(09:46):
is worth living, life is worthenjoying. You know. There's so many
people to me, so many peopletoo, so many places to go.
If you didn't have something, thenthere's something wrong with you. You know.
Mind just happen to be more obviousthan most people. But I'm very
blacked to have four wonderful children,I have a wonderful husband, I have
(10:09):
a business. You know, inmany ways, I'm blessed, and that's
how I go on. I justkeep going. The negative is that she
has me so tom so, sotell me about how this is with spouse.
At times it could be trying,because you know, when you have
(10:30):
to multiple repeat yourselves so that youknow she hears you and whatnot. Sometimes,
you know, especially if you're havingone of those days, it's difficult.
But for the most part, Imean, I love it to death,
and there's there's nothing that I wouldn'tdo for her, and you know,
I support her and everything that shechooses to do as well as you
know. The I mean, atthe end of the day, This isn't
(10:50):
her fault. It's not something that'spreventable. So you know, I support
her one hundred percent. You know, do I get frustrated. Of course,
we all get frustrated. You know, nobody gets more frustrated than herself.
And I have to take into considerationthat she, you know, there's
nothing that she can do about it, and that's going to be the hardest
thing. You know. She's alwaysconstantly telling me. You know, I
(11:13):
thank you for being there for me, and thank you for that. I
said, you don't have to thankme. I'm your husband. This is
what I do. This is myjob. You know, I knew who
you were prior to marrying you.You know, it's not like, you
know, this was something that justcame on and you know you're not used
to you know, has it gottenworse, Yes, it's gotten worse.
You know. There's a lot oftimes where Michelle will call me and I'll
(11:39):
you know, and I'll say toher and I'm like, I'm not understanding
what you're saying. So then wewe have an affectionate joke between the two
of us. And most people sayto me, you know, you know
what keeps you? You know,your head on straight. I said,
well, every time Michelle and Ispeak, I said, she always says
what what? And I keep tellingher stop calling me by name. My
(12:01):
name is not what. I'm sorry, we are out of time. And
again, as a reminder, afterwhat the Krupas went through tragically losing their
dog, I love that idea ofputting your shoes or at least one shoe
in the back seat if you haveyour pet or your child in the back
(12:22):
seat on a warm day, sothat to prevent other tragedies. You've been
listening to Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio,a production of New York's classic rock Q
one four point three
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