Stanek weekend video: His father’s voice
by Hans Johnson
Three-year-old Grayson Clamp has been deaf all his life as a result of a genetic disorder called Charge Syndrome. His parents Len and Nicole, who felt called to help medically-challenged children, met him as a newborn and soon adopted him. Not having cochlear nerves, a cochlear implant was, as one would expect, unsuccessful. But as part of a trial at the University of North Carolina Hospital at Chapel Hill, he received an auditory brainstem implant – the first in the U.S.
When it was turned on after the successful surgery, his father said: “I’ve never seen another look like that! I mean, he looked deep into my eyes and he was hearing my voice for the first time!”
Here is the report from WBTV:
WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC
There is much work to do, but Grayson’s mother has faith he will do well: “He is a very determined little boy. He makes up his mind he is going to do something – he’s going to do it!”
The family was on Fox and Friends Weekend Saturday morning.
Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.
[HT: TheBlaze]
[Image via hollywoodlife.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Beautiful!
Oh, how wonderful! I teared up when I saw his face change when he heard his father. :’)
Great weekend video! It really made me smile. :)
In addition to an updated link to the family on Fox and Friends Weekend at the end of the post, here are a couple of links that go into the science of this surgery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhC_By9GMv0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GA9gEh1fLs
“In addition to an updated link to the family on Fox and Friends Weekend at the end of the post, here are a couple of links that go into the science of this surgery:”
Thanks, Hans!
You’re welcome! :)
Blue Velvet,
Totally agree!!
That sweet little face……:)
How beautiful
What a wonderful moment for father & son! Beautiful! And what a lovely story all-around! Thank you for sharing this with us, Hans.
And thank you, Clamp family, for letting the world join you in celebrating this moment!
Just an FYI to the hearing public: The Deaf community does not consider deafness a disease, a loss, or something that necessarily needs to be fixed. They consider such a perception as audism. They have their own culture, language, and abilities that they wish to preserve.
I am not trying to take away anything from this family. It is obviously an individual decision as to what is best course of action. I’ve known a Deaf person who got a cochlear implant as a child and decided as an adult not to use it. Even with the implant, Grayson will always be Deaf (with a capital D just as you would capitalize the first letter of any other cultural group). I hope his parents will teach him whole communication – sign and spoken – and not just rely on the implant.
Awesome!!!
.
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I wonder if the family got their adoptive family IRS audit courtesy of the Obama administration:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frenchrevolution/2013/05/22/the-irs-targets-adoptive-families/
MoJoanne,
I have heard this and respect it. It seems to me very akin to the way people want to treat those with Downs- as though it is a problem to be corrected when in reality it is a difference which can enrich our lives and teach us very important lessons. Still, you can’t deny the joy and amazement on the face of Grayson in that video. I think that’s a moment everyone deserves the opportunity to experience-whether or not they actually choose it.
From the looks of it, he has already been taught some sign language. He appears to sign a small amount after hearing his father, and his father does use some signing in the scene at the park. I also hope that they continue to use signing as they integrate the cochlear, though.