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Celebration of Sound

Category: Stories

Hearts for Hearing Blog

Tyler Sams sitting on stairs outside
Children

Tyler’s Story

“Being deaf never really held me back on the court, except during the hottest times of the year,” says Tyler, who recalls, “I did sweat through many Nucleus-5 processors before I started using a waterproof sleeve, which helped.” According to Tyler, the Nucleus-7 handles a lot more sweat than older models, and he’s learned to dry-off his hair more often when playing, and he wears a cap. “He adds, I also keep my hair cut short on the sides and I use toupee tape to help keep processors in place.”

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Carter
Children

Carter’s Story

When Carter was born in early summer 2022, Mom and Dad say they were “blind-sided” when he was born with bilateral microtia. This is a condition defined as underdevelopment of the ear, which means the ear is either too small or not shaped as it should be, or both. Carter also had a cleft lip on the corner of his mouth. “The pregnancy and delivery had been perfectly normal,” says Mom, “we had no idea he would be born with these conditions until the moment he arrived.”

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a man kneeling next to a young girl in a dress. They both have hearing aids.
Children

Hadley and Dennis’ Story

11-year-old Hadley helped inspire her grandfather – and still does every day. At 3 ½ years of age, at a Mother’s Day Out class, Hadley referred for additional follow-up at a routine hearing test. “It is probably sinus pressure and fluid in her ears,” thought Mom and Dad. They felt certain her hearing was fine because they interacted with her and watched her relate with family members as a toddler. Still, Hadley had experienced many ear infections, and the parents wanted to be certain everything looked okay.

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Two kids stand side by side hugging. The girl on the left has pigtails. The boy on the right has short hair. Both have large smiles.
Children

Jorge and Sandra’s Story

Jorge, 10, and Sandra, 3, share a special bond that goes well beyond their family of five ties – a sound connection if you will – as both children were identified with hearing loss as babies, both fit with hearing technology by age two, and both participating in speech-language therapy at Hearts for Hearing.

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photo of a boy in front of a tree with cochlear implants and an off the ear processor
Children

Rodrigo’s Story

Rodri – as his family calls him – was born prematurely in Venezuela and spent the first weeks of his life in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and, according to his mom, survived thanks to oxygen support and antibiotics. She tells us, “We were told Rodri lost his hearing sometime in his first three months of life due to the antibiotics he had to be given to live.”

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Photo of Dan Vestal
Adults

Dan’s Story

“We feel like he is aging backwards … everyday he experiences something brand new and exciting to him,” says Jonathan Vestal, son of our newest Patient Hero, Mr. Dan Vestal. As we celebrate our 20th anniversary year, we continue to highlight amazing Hearts for Hearing patient stories – and Mr. Vestal’s story is one that truly is incredibly special.

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Photo of Josie sitting on a football field in a cheerleading uniform
Children

Josie’s Story

Josie was born at only 25 weeks and weighed one pound, eight ounces when she was delivered. Sadly, her twin brother passed away at 18-days-old. Thankfully, Josie was able to survive her tiny beginning, and she remained in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit for 143 days.

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two girls stand in front of a fridge filled with soda. The girl on the left is leaning in to whisper a secret to the girl on the right.
Children

Ava and Lilly’s Story

Ava was two when she was diagnosed with bilateral hearing loss, and Lilly was diagnosed with deafness following her newborn hearing screen. Both sets of parents were independently referred to Hearts for Hearing and their little girls received their technology, audiology, and listening and spoken language therapy services through Hearts for Hearing. It was a teacher at their preschool who first introduced them and pointed out that they had something special in common, they each wear hearing technology.

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Photo of a girl with glasses smiling at the camera. She has dark hair and a light colored top.
Children

Henrietta’s Story

Henrietta experienced hearing loss as a young adult. “Music is her love language,” says Mom, “and my vibrant, bubbly, gregarious child who loves everybody – and wants to sing and dance with you – found herself in an increasingly silent world. She was in depression.”

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black and white photo of a young boy with cochlear implants shaking a tambourine
Children

Elijah’s Story

When Elijah was born, he was “absolutely perfect” recalls his mom. “We didn’t think anything of it when he did not pass his newborn hearing screen, and we were told it was probably just fluid in his ear.” Elijah was referred for a routine follow-up which again he did not pass. “Even then, it wasn’t scary for me because we didn’t have any hearing loss in our family, so we didn’t think it was even a possibility.”

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