Camryn, 9, is the first person in South Africa to get the Baha Attract System

Nine-year-old Camryn, Cape Town, South Africa, will be the country’s very first recipient of the Baha Attract System!

The surgery was done in early March 2015, and the little girl is now waiting to get her bilateral Baha 4 Sound Processors fitted. The technique creates an invisible connection between the magnets embedded close to where her ears would have been and equally magnetised sound processors.

At birth, Camryn was diagnosed with Goldenhar syndrome – a rare congenital condition characterised by the incomplete development of the ear – and was certified as “profoundly deaf”.

Camryn’s family was referred to ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Nathanie Naudè, who’d been in talks with Australian otolaryngologist Professor Robert Briggs about the new bilateral Baha technique. Briggs travelled to Cape Town to perform Camryn’s surgery, which was observed by more than 20 ENT specialists from across the country.

“It will be the first time that Camryn will be able to hear surround sound,” said Surida Booysen, audiologist at Tygerberg Hospital’s Carel du Toit Centre for children with hearing impediments, which Camryn attends. “To give this to a child is absolutely amazing.”

Read the whole story here.

 

Ear Community brings people with atresia/microtia and hearing loss together

Ear Community is a charitable organization that supports people with Microtia, Atresia, Hemifacial Microsomia (HFM), Treacher Collins, Goldenhar Syndrome or a hearing loss. It’s founded by Melissa Tumblin, a mother whose daughter was born with Microtia and Atresia.

Cochlear Americas has been a sponsor for years – and in 2014 alone was able to help children like Milago, Eliana, Dustin and Randy hear with a Baha System.

Soon it’s time for the Ear Community’s popular Summer picnics to kick off again. It’s a great opportunity for Microtia and Atresia families to come together and share experiences. Medical professionals such as surgeons, anaplastologists, ENTs, audiologists, and therapists along with the world’s leading hearing device companies are on site to help educate people on options on surgery and hearing loss.

Natasha and Becky with Cochlear Americas educating families on the Baha 4 Attract System in 2014

This year’s picnics will take place in Australia, Denmark, Pennsylvania (USA), Colorado (USA), Washington (USA), and South Africa:

Melbourne, Australia | Saturday, March 14, 2015
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Lisa at: AustralianEarCommunityPicnic@hotmail.com

Hellerup, Denmark | Sunday, May 31, 2015
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Melissa at: DenmarkEarCommunityPicnic@gmail.com

Pittsburgh, PA | Saturday, June 13, 2015
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Kim at: PittsburghEarCommunityPicnic@gmail.com

Broomfield, Colorado | Saturday, July 25, 2015
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Melissa at: ColoradoMicrotia@hotmail.com

Seattle, Washington | Saturday, August 8, 2015
Time: 10AM to 2PM
RSVP to Jodi or Jaime at: SeattleEarCommunityPicnic@gmail.com

Johannesburg, South Africa | October (TBD), 2015
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Mark and Melissa at: SouthAfricaEarCommunityPicnic@gmail.com

Cochlear is a proud partner of Ear Community and looks forward to another fun-filled year ahead! Visit earcommunity.com to learn more about how you can help – or be helped!

 

Camille always danced – now it’s to music

At the Cochlear Celebration in San Diego 2013, we had the pleasure of meeting Camille Masino – our 100,000th Baha recipient. Camille has danced the ballet since she was three years old – without even being able to hear the music, or her teachers. It wasn’t until she received her Baha sound processors that she could bring her dancing to a whole new level.

This is Camille’s story:

20-year old Camille, USA, was born with Goldenhar Syndrome. She had fused vertebrae in the neck making it difficult to turn her head, as well as deformation of the outer and middle ear which caused her to suffer from severe hearing loss in her right ear. Her childhood was filled with constant trips in and out of surgery. To complicate matters further, Camille also had sensitive allergies and chronic sinus problems.

The allergies brought on constant ear infections in Camille’s left ear – her “good” ear – causing her to suffer from hearing loss on that side too. At age 11, Camille developed a cholesteatoma (a growth in the middle ear) in her left ear and from then on she really struggled to communicate. A doctor told her parents that Camille would most likely find it difficult to succeed in school.

At the age of 14 and after almost as many surgeries, Camille decided to get bilateral Baha sound processors.

“It was the best decision she ever made!” says Camille’s mother Hilary Masino. “Hearing with the Baha sound processors has truly changed her life. Above all, it has allowed Camille to continue dancing ballet.”

Dancing is Camille’s life. She started dancing ballet when she was just three years old, and has danced though deafness, dizziness, pain and the inability to turn her head.

Camille laughs:

I love dancing. I dance six days a week. After every surgery I would wrap my head in a scarf and rush to get back to the studio. All my doctors thought I was crazy.

Without being able to hear, Camille learned how to dance by lip reading her teacher’s instructions and by feeling the beat of the music. When she got her Baha sound processors, Camille could hear the music for the first time – and her teacher. When Camille heard her teacher giving her praise it was a revelation. She realised that she had been doing it for years, saying “Good” or “Well done!” – only Camille had never heard it before!

In her senior year of high school Camille danced the solo role of the Snow Queen in the Nutcracker; “She was beautiful,” says Hilary.

Proving her doctor wrong, Camille graduated from high school with a 3.9 GPA and with a career path award in Medical Microbiology and Biotechnology. She was accepted to college at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

“Today I’m grateful for my trials,” concludes Camille. “They are my biggest blessings. They have made me into who I am today.”

Camille at the Cochlear Celebration 2013