Allison

After we discovered that our daughter, Madalyn H., was deaf, my world collapsed. When we learned about the cochlear implant, my fears were lessened and I felt hope for her future. She was implanted in her left ear in July 2002 at the age of two and a half. I began thinking that it made no sense for her to only have one implant because all the rest of us have two ears. I wanted her to have the technology that would help her have the best access to language. We figured that she would be able to localize sound, and that listening would become easier for her in all situations. In late 2003, we convinced our surgeon to take a chance on a bilateral implant for Madalyn, and in January 2004 she became the second pediatric MED-EL bilateral in the U.S. and one of only a handful of bilateral recipients around the country. Our family has never second-guessed the decision to do that surgery, and although she was forging new ground at the time, the number of bilateral implants has increased exponentially. I feel that our decision is validated and that we have given our daughter the best possible opportunity for learning. She is now a precocious seven year old who is mainstreamed in first grade. The sky's the limit for our daughter, and the cochlear implants are truly a miracle.