Day 58

Zlata and her parents came to the Upstate from war-torn Odessa, Ukraine, where her mother, Diana, was a physician and classical musician, and her father, Oleh, was in a private business of importing cars. Settling in Boiling Springs, SC, Zlata, now 4 years old, was diagnosed as deaf at six months of age. She has been enrolled in a number of the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind's programs, beginning with our Early Intervention Program, then Kelly's Kids, and now our 3-6 years of age program.

Many doctors had informed Zlata's parents that she had no cochlear nerve in either ear and hearing aids would not help. The family, however, still hoped she might be able to hear and headed to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to see Drs. Noxon and McRackan who conducted another MRI. This MRI showed a tiny nerve in her right ear that other doctors had missed.

A few weeks later on March 23, 2023, Zlata received her cochlear implant. After recovering at home for a month, Zlata returned to MUSC on April 19, 2023 for the doctors to activate the cochlear implant. As they turned on the implant, everyone was holding their breath to see if the implant would work. The audiologist increased sound levels from low to high and tapped on a xylophone.

Zlanta paused, looked up and touched her ear. She was able to hear! The eyes of all in the room quickly filled with tears. The miracle they hoped for came true. Zlanta continues to work with the SCSDB team to learn ASL as she is still deaf when the implant is turned off.

Diana voiced her gratitude, "I am so thankful for America and the opportunities our little girl has gotten. We prayed that she would hear, that she would speak, and, also that she would sing. Our whole family sings and now she will be able to sing with our family in her own voice."  

For 175 years, offering hope to deaf, blind and sensory multi-disabled individuals and their families is what SCSDB does and will do for the next 175 years.

The image at the top of this page shows a man and a girl on a couch learning ASL. The image on the previous page has a woman and a girl working with the teacher on an activity on the floor.

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