JD ACKERMANN

I read somewhere a long time ago: “Every moment matters” and this is now the case with JD. JD’s story started a few years ago in 2006 as you must have read already and I hope that you won’t mind me sharing some of it from my side as his mother.

When I found out that our precious baby boy that I carried under my heart for 9 months was profoundly deaf in both ears, after going to the doctor for an ear infection JD had and a recommendation of grommets, my whole world was shaken up, as the proverbial says “rug was pulled from under me”. The ache in my heart on receiving the news: "Your child is severely/profoundly deaf" - I will never forget that first moment that totally changed my life - I felt so alone and devastated, not even having my husband and family around me could make me feel any better at that moment. It felt like my ears were buzzing with noises and I tried to be brave and pretend I understood, but my insides felt numb and dead. I wanted to scream at the doctor, like JD screamed when they held him on that little bed examining his ears.

The feelings I had I can never really explain to anyone. I would find myself sitting and thinking - all those evenings I sang him to sleep or whispered in his ears to try and sooth him, he did not hear a thing. I felt so sad and even betrayed in a way. And “why” became part of my everyday thoughts and vocabulary. Instantaneously, I would start thinking that this happened because of something I did while pregnant, or something I didn’t do. I nearly drove myself crazy thinking of that. The worst part of it then was that after many tests, they could not tell us why JD was born deaf. In addition to that, until this very day – there is still no way for them to tell us the reason why! There were no deafness or history of deafness in either family so to this day, I still wonder.

After we found out JD was deaf and getting over the initial shock of it all, the obvious next question was: “what do we do now to help him?” Wow, where to start! Initially they gave JD hearing aids, but his deafness was so profound that even at their loudest they made no difference. The only thing that JD could hear with the hearing aids was an airplane. Sometimes I was amazed that this little boy, who could not hear a thing, would point his little finger into the air and yes, you guessed it, and there was the plane.

Then we got the news that a cochlear implant is what JD needed after wearing the hearing aids for nearly a year with no improvement. This would cost R190 300-00 and since we did not have a medical aid, we had to start raising funds. This nearly took us a year and with every day, week and month that went by JD got further behind. Then after lots of tests, scans, hearing aids and loads of tears, with the help of God, family, friends and our church, we managed to raise the money needed for one implant. The day finally arrived, 10 December 2007, the day JD got his first Freedom Cochlear Implant. (I remember thinking at the time; they chose the right name for this device, since this already gave so many people, including JD the freedom to hear). The operation took hours, and I think I walked kilometers in the hospital, trying to think of something else, forever watching the door where they rolled in his bed, a tiny little body in a blue jacket on that big bed. I remember when they came out eventually and the specialist saying that everything went great. All I could do was thank God.

On the 10^th of January 2008, exactly one month later, after waiting for the wound to heal where they implanted the electrodes and cochlea, it was time to attach the outer part and “switch” JD on. I will never forget his little scared face, the fright he got on hearing his first sounds and then the amazement in his eyes when he realized that he heard something. He was sitting on his father’s lap and hid his face in his father’s arm. We started talking to him and after a while he was starting to look at us as if to say “Is that what you sound like?”, it was one of the most perfect moments in my life apart from the moment I first held him and his sister in my arms after they were born. Oh yes and the moment JD said his first word.

JD is attending the most wonderful school (Carel du Toit School for the Hearing Impaired) here in Cape Town, South Africa and here we go for parental guidance once every two weeks and speech therapy every week. Last week we had his yearly assessment and JD is still very far behind. He is on the level of a 29 month old child with his speech, which means for a little man turning 6 in September, he is very far behind. It was determined that JD should get an upgrade on his existing implant and also receive an implant for his right ear. When I asked the therapists when this should be done, the answer was “last month”, so now I have to do what I and all of us who love JD with all our hearts can do and that is to try and give him this opportunity to reach his full potential.

JD can hear with the one implant, but not good enough. He started imitating word and there is definite improvement. I can just burst with pride when he attempts to say something. Even an "aa" makes me jump for joy. To think JD could not hear anything for the first nearly 2 and a half year of his life and now he responds to his name. What a miracle!!

But with the recent news, suddenly I feel yet again like I felt when we started raising funds the first time, helpless and small, having to send out emails to every living breathing soul I know and praying that they will find it in their hearts to help JD. It’s difficult, there are so many worthy causes out there, but for me as JD’s mother, I will never stop to try and give him what he needs and if begging is part of it, then so be it.

I thank God and everyone who helped JD get his first implant and if you can find it in your heart to give this little boy what he so desperately needs, I will stand small before God and all of you for making it possible for JD to enter the wonderful world of hearing and speech, it is going very slow, it surely is going and I'm not crying anymore......at least when I do they are tears of joy.

JD’s MOM (Esmé)

I was born on the 22nd of September 2005, which makes me 5 years old right now. I was a healthy 3.5kg baby with no obvious problems, physically or mentally. They say all the necessary tests were done by the nurses right after my birth, like it is the case with all babies, but somehow they missed that I could not hear anything...?

My parents got very suspicious about my lack of reaction and responses if and when I was near loud noises, voices, etc. They took me for initial testing when I was about 2 years old and the first doctor told my mother that I only required grommets to drain the ears and all should be fine. Obviously my parents were relieved and also relaxed knowing 'nothing' too bad was wrong.

BUT...When they made an appointment at the hospital for my 'grommet' operation, another specialist looked at me and told my mother after another few tests that I was actually totally deaf in both my ears. This came as an absolute shock sitting there in the waiting room expecting to have everything fixed with a simple little grommet operation...! And so my life as a 'Deaf Kid' started...

The GOOD news was that I had a chance to be normal and this was relayed to my parents immediately after they found out that I was deaf. Through the amazing procedure of a Cochlear implant deaf babies will be able to hear like any normal child, but these operations and especially the equipment are very expensive. This is where I will be VERY grateful if anybody could assist me in affording this operation and ANY kind of help will be appreciated?

Many thanks...JD Ackermann

JD ACKERMANN

Tuesday, 26 April 2011

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Friday, 4 March 2011

From the words of JD's Mother

A KIND GESTURE FOR A GOOD CAUSE!!

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Thursday, 3 March 2011

I am Jacobus De Wildt (JD) Ackermann...Please help me if you can?