Meet Jesse Carpenter

At first, nineteen-month-old Jesse Carpenter cried. A minute later he sat up and looked around. The audiologist had just finished activating his new cochlear implant. We knew he was hearing, says his mom, Heather. You should have seen his face light up when we spoke to him.

That was over six years ago. At the time, Jesse didnt know it, but he had just taken his first step towards interacting more fully with other kids, teachers, and family.

Jesse was only five months old when bacterial meningitis took away his hearing. He had become profoundly deaf in both ears.

He wore hearing aids at seven months. But they werent powerful enough, explains Heather.

Heather clearly wanted the best for her son and intended not to let others treat him differently because of his hearing loss. She began searching for ways to help make this happen.

I wanted to give him every opportunity to lead a normal, successful life, she says. An implant appeared to be the best option.

We needed to move quickly, because meningitis causes the cochlea to ossify. Heather recalls. Surgery went smoothly. Jesse bounced right back. By the next day, he was his usual self.

Today, Jesse is a typical 8-year-old. He attends school with the neighborhood kids. In class, he is helped along with a LightSPEED portable sound system, which amplifies his teachers voice without singling him out. Heather proudly says, The kids at school dont treat him differently from anyone else.

Jesse still relies on lip-reading but also does well without it. His audiograms show he is consistently hearing between 15dB and 25 dB, which is considered a minimal hearing loss for children. Jesse uses the phone, watches TV, and listens to music with no accessories.

Heather clearly intended for her son to hear and to be treated equally by others. In Heathers mind, a cochlear implant has helped accomplish both of these goals. Every day, Im amazed at Jesse's achievements. He is so happy to hear!