My daughter is graduating from college on Tuesday. I am so proud of her. She has not had an easy road especially when it came to school. She was born with a progressive hearing loss called EVAS, enlarged vestibular aqueduct syndrome. In basic terms, her ear was formed with deformities. This enlarged tube allowed fluid to leak, eventually destroying the hairs on the ears nerve where sound travels. I’ve written a few blogs about her but the following is the most comprehensive.

My daughter’s triumph being deaf with cochlear implants.

Part 2 My daughter’s triumph being deaf with cochlear implants

I tell the story all the time, when she was in second grade she was having a lot of difficulties with school. I was slightly unfocused at times because I was in the middle of my divorce. Thankfully she’s always had a really really good support teachers around her. In one of my meetings with the support teacher I remember looking at her saying “how am I ever going to get her through college.” She replied “let’s worry about second grade 1st and will worry about college next year.” Unfortunately, this teacher has since passed away as well as another tremendous person that was in her life through most of her schooling. I think about both of these women often because I always wanted to say “look, look where she is, we did it.” I could not have successfully navigated elementary, middle school or high school without the help of these woman and a few others along the way.

I spent a lot of time fighting the school district to get the appropriate services for my daughter. Cochlear implant‘s were still very new back then. Most of the special ed people, that made the rules, compared them to hearing aids. Cochlear implant‘s are not hearing aids. My daughter has prosthetic hearing. It is not the same as you and I hear nor is it the same as someone would hear with the amplification of hearing aids. She had a train her ears to understand the sounds that were coming through. This YouTube.video explanation is excellent. https://youtu.be/lzgQrHFDNLE

My daughter has accomplished so much, more than she even probably realizes. I couldn’t be prouder. I find everything she’s done, all of her struggles, and her perseverance remarkable. We have no idea what her future hold but I have no doubts she will do very well. I am a very proud mom. I find my daughter to be one of the most amazing human beings I know. It is a far cry from that second grade class. I hope she realizes how amazing this accomplishment is and is proud of herself. I love my baby girl so much. Congratulations