Margaret was born healthy and passed her newborn hearing screening. Life seemed normal until one afternoon when we were in the kitchen and my dad was holding Margaret and I started talking to her from across the island. I noticed she wasn’t hearing me, so I got a pot and pan and hit them with a spoon to make a loud noise. My heart dropped when she still didn’t turn toward the loud noise.  Two weeks later we had our ENT appt for a hearing check.  The audiologist did a more thorough hearing test, and I will never forget the look on the face of the audiologist when she confirmed that Margaret could not hear. Mark and I were both in shock that our seven-month-old baby girl had complete hearing loss.

Our fourth child, our baby, was deaf. 

That day is etched in my memory as a day that shifted our lives into a season of uncertainty.  We discovered that the noises she made that we thought were unique and sweet were actually squeals because deaf babies squeal. Mark and I were overwhelmed, but God met us every step of those first few months of diagnosis. We were referred to Dr. Woolley who was the medical expert in Cochlear Implant Surgery and it just so happened that he practiced in Birmingham where we lived. We were thrilled to get the news that she was a candidate for the implants.

Margaret had extensive therapy over the next few years and began attending the School for the Hearing (now WISE) when she was three years old, and she spent the next two years attending the preschool program. The school provided a place for Margaret to be in a community of children who also had “magic ears” and to also be taught with a focus on speech and hearing. The WISE school was an incredible gift to Margaret and to our family.

Margaret is now a sixteen-year-old junior at Briarwood High School.  She has been mainstreamed since kindergarten and has always been an excellent student. She speaks perfectly and has had to tell teachers and friends that she hears through cochlear devices. She is confident and never meets a stranger. We are continually amazed by God’s faithfulness to give Margaret the gift of hearing and the privilege of attending WISE. Just last summer, Margaret started volunteering at WISE because she wanted to encourage and impact the students just like she experienced all those years ago. She loved meeting the children and showing them that she had ears just like them, and most of all she found great joy in sharing her hearing journey.