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My Childrens' Journey Into The Wonderful World Of Hearing

    I am the mother of two beautiful daughters who were born with a type of hearing loss known as Auditory Neuropathy. Along this journey, we as a family, learned to communicate through sign language. Then, in 1999, we were introduced to a miraculous device known as the Nucleus 24 cochlear implant. This device has given both of my daughters the gift of hearing. Along with the gift of hearing, is the gift of understanding what they hear, and the gift to express themselves through speech.
     This is something I never could have imagined back in 1997, when my oldest daughter was diagnosed at the age of 2 1/2 years old. It was then, that we entered the "foreign" world of hearing loss and everything it encounters.
     It has been quite the journey. A miraculous one to say the least. It hasn't always been easy, as we have had our share of ups and downs. But, at the other end of the rainbow, where we are now, in 2002, it is a life full of butterflies, which replaced the caterpillars!
     I wanted to be able to share a very brief portion of this with you, to let you know that it is possible, and never give up hope!