Jace's Story
A knot formed in my chest and made my breath irregular. I knew that was the feeling of a breaking heart. A flood of fear and anxiety rushed in as I fought unsuccessfully to hold back tears. “He’s the same kid he’s always been. This changes nothing.” What?! This changes EVERYTHING. The news that my two year old was deaf overwhelmed me. “He has never heard my voice,” I thought. Such a special connection between a mother and her unborn baby...all those days spent singing over him and talking to him seemed in vain. And then I was infiltrated...”he’s never heard me say ‘I love you.’” I knew he knew...but I wanted him to HEAR it.
Over the next few days, as we researched and tried to wrap our heads around what all of this meant, all while trying to form a plan, it occurred to me...I may never HEAR HIM tell me that he loves me. I never realized how important it was to my “mama heart” to hear his little baby voice say those words.
After a lot of research and discussion we decided that he would receive cochlear implants. Our doctor told us that they were a great and successful option, but that they alone were simply tools that were useless unless we taught him HOW to use them. That is where Presbyterian Ear Institute Oral School came into the picture. They would partner with our family to teach our son how to hear, how to listen...and how to speak.
It was (and has been) a long road over the past three years. We worked hard...talked and read and sang and talked. His teachers worked hard, using their wealth of knowledge and experience to help him learn and practice. HE WORKED HARD. Slowly...he began to gain more words and understanding. And then suddenly his single words became two and three word sentences. Which have become complex sentences, strung together with complex grammatical structures. It had seemed slow at first, but suddenly it was BOOM!
I’ll never forget the day I knew it was going to be okay. It was about a year after he received his first implant. We were driving to school one morning and he was singing gibberish in the back seat. I was going along with my day, not paying much attention, and could hear him calling me.
“Hey...hey...hey...mama! Mama! Ludge ju....mama!! LUDGE JU!!”
I didn’t understand at first, and I could tell he was frustrated that I wasn’t responding. So I turned around and saw him attempting to fold his fingers down to sign “I love you.” “Ludge ju” was “love you” and it was the first time he initiated it and said it to me.
Mama. Ludge ju. THAT was my favorite day.
Now he is five and his speech is clearer. Often times, he still climbs into my lap, that tall and lanky five year old, and cuddles with me. We play a game where we say “guess what?!” as excitedly as we can, and when the other person responds with “what?” we say “Chicken butt!” It’s a silly game, but every once and a while, he will trick me and say “Guess what?! I love you!”
I love that he can use his language and his voice to joke and trick. I LOVE that he can use his language and his voice to say “I love you.” Those are, by far, the most important words in the history of the world. They have the power to change things. He will use his voice and his love to CHANGE THINGS!
He wouldn’t have this opportunity had it not been for PEI’s School for Oral Deaf Education. Unfortunately, an oral education is not free and comes at a steep financial cost. PEI never stops any child from receiving the education they deserve because of the cost, and they rely on fundraisers to help offset the cost to educate our children. So really, I should be saying thank you to YOU since it is because of the donations from people like you that children like my son, and countless others, are able to hear their families tell them “I love you”, are able to say “I love you” back, and are able to use those powerful words to give back and make a difference in the world around them.
- Lindsay, Jace’s Mom
“PEI gave my already intelligent and capable son the ability to succeed and thrive, the power to overcome the challenges that hearing loss presents, and a voice which will be the fuel that will strengthen his gifts and abilities, not just for his benefit, but also for the benefit of all the people he may encounter and bless throughout his life.”
