Every brand new parent believes that their child is perfect.  I was no exception.  I was fully convinced that no child ever looked so gorgeous at one-day-old.  And at two-days-old, I was certain that he was the smartest baby ever to be born at Hoag Hospital.  I enjoyed 48 hours of uninterrupted bliss as I held and gazed at my new little baby.  Our room was quiet and we could see the ocean from the window.  His father is a United States Marine Corps Officer, so my son had to feel his father’s presence from a photograph that we kept next to my hospital bed. 

Over time, every parent comes to realize that no person on the planet Earth is perfect.  And their child is no exception.  Some children will eventually have food allergies.  Others will need glasses or braces by the time they are in grade school.  But for me, that realization came when my son was only three-days-old.  A nurse casually whisked my son away for his Newborn Hearing Screening.  In response to my slight look of alarm at being separated from my son for the first time, she said “don’t worry, everyone passes.”  A few minutes later, she returned with a negative result.  I was lost in shock and disbelief.   But in that moment, I had my very first glimpse of real parenthood.  I had to rise to become an advocate for my three-day-old, possibly imperfect, son. 

Equipped with no medical background, unless you count the hours I had spent on WebMD, I knew I needed to find the foremost leading expert in the Science of hearing.  I very quickly came upon the House Ear Institute.  My son met with Dr. John House when he was only four weeks old.  That meeting marked the turning point in my experience with hearing loss in that he offered the perfect balance of technical expertise and compassion.  He offered a promising view that inspired confidence and renewed my sense of optimism.    I left that appointment asking myself, “If we can put a man on the moon – why can’t we drive toward correcting this problem?” 

Dr. House also connected me with our audiologist, Margaret Winter, at the House Ear Institute Children’s Auditory Research and Evaluation (CARE) Center.  She very quickly defined herself as the voice of reason.  She helped me learn how to find sound science-based information in a sea of anecdotal nonsense and dated ideas.  She helped talk me down from the ledge when I was losing my rationality.  And she offered wisdom, experience and compassion that helped offset my husband’s absence. 

At 18 months of age, our son is absolutely thriving.  He is brilliant, animated and highly engaging.  He is the picture of health and well-being.  He has worn hearing aids in both ears since he was six-weeks old.  I take great pride in that fact because many in the field argue that such early intervention is unattainable.  I was driven to achieve excellence for my son – and the team at House maintained that same sense of urgency. 

At the CARE Center, Orion is treated like he is their first priority.  Every child with hearing loss should be our first priority.  We are proud that our son can be a part of something so great.  And we continue to look for ways that he can give back – and make the world for those with hearing loss a little better than he found it.