Pretoria - Born into a silent world, little Zelmari Maree heard the sound of her parents’ voices for the very first time at the age of nine months after undergoing successful cochlear implantation that has changed the course of her development forever.
Now, a few months later, she is a chatty baby who shows utter delight in responding to the busy noises that fill her new and engaging world.
According to Dr Jacobus Terblanche, an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon practising at Netcare Kuils River Hospital, a cochlear implant is a small electronic device, which helps deaf or severely hard of hearing people recognise sound by working around the damaged part of the inner ear so that sound signals can reach the brain.
Zelmari’s mom Elsje Maree said that although the family did not know it, Zelmari, perfectly healthy in every other way, was born without the ability to hear.
“Within her first few weeks of life I started noticing she seemed unaware of noise and I began to suspect there was a problem with her hearing. After taking her for screening at six weeks she was diagnosed with total hearing loss,” she said.
Maree said this was heartbreaking.“I never thought any thing like this could happen to us. While it was recommended Zelmari would be a good candidate for a cochlear implant, it was financially out of our reach.” However, the family’s fortunes changed when Dr Louis Hofmeyr, an ENT specialist otologist, took a special interest in Zelmari’s case.
Hofmeyr practises at the Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital and specialises in cochlear implants.
He and Terblanche form part of the team at Cape Hearing Implants, a non-profit organisation that raises charitable funds to support patients in need of implantable hearing solutions.
After discussing the options with the family, it was agreed that a cochlear implant was the best option for baby Zelmari. At the age of nine months, Terblanche did the implant at Netcare Kuils River Hospital, which assisted with hospital costs.
“Thanks to the this selfless team and the outpouring of support from the community, we were afforded the opportunity to have this life-changing procedure for Zelmari,” the mother said.
Pretoria News