Meet Bradley Wilson

Testimonial of Bradley Wilson by his mother Annie

Bradley, now 12, was born profoundly deaf due to Waardenberg syndrome. Since he has four older hearing siblings, this came as a complete shock to us.

Hearing aids were of no benefit and eventually, at the age of 3½, Bradley received his first implant (a Nucleus 3G) in his right ear. Obviously this is late by today’s standards. Before his implant Bradley had no spoken language. It was fantastic to watch him react to sound at his initial switch on and to realise that his hearing life was about to begin.

In the summer following implantation, our whole family attended the John Tracey clinic in California to learn how to encourage Bradley to listen with his implant and to develop his spoken language This was an inspiring experience and we returned with a high expectation of what Bradley could achieve using his cochlear implant.

We sent Bradley to the mainstream local infant school with a learning support assistant, even though he had only been hearing for nine months. We believed he would learn language from his peers and it was absolutely the right decision. However, it was a huge challenge, because Bradley had to learn everyday language and the language of the curriculum at the same time. At home every situation was a language building opportunity, encouraged through games and play; but listening in a mainstream class was hard.

As Bradley got older, the work became harder. He had to listen and concentrate much more in order to access new and complicated information. As Bradley got older, it was increasingly obvious that he heard nothing in his unimplanted left ear. He would turn his head around so that anyone on his left side could speak into his right ear and he did not respond well to friends sitting on his unimplanted left side. When friends sat either side of him, such as at meal times or in the car, he talked to the friend on his right as it was easier.

We hoped that Bradley would pass the exams to go to an academically selective secondary school, but we realised that he would need every bit of hearing if he was going to cope in mainstream education. As well as in the classroom and in each subject he needed to access the language of the playground. The playground is a notoriously difficult listening environment, but it’s vital for forming friendships. 

We began to explore the possibility of a bilateral implant. We had researched on the internet and were aware that this was commonplace in much of Europe and the US and that the results were encouraging. Bradley himself had often asked to be implanted in his other ear. Now, as parents, we felt there was nothing to lose and hopefully everything to gain. We were also aware that Bradley totally relied on his one implant to hear and felt a second one would be insurance in case anything went wrong.

Bradley and I visited the Cochlear celebration conference in Orlando. We were amazed at the number of children and adults with bilateral implants. Some of the adults had large time gaps between their implants, which was interesting as Bradley would have nearly an 8 year gap between his implants. Everyone we spoke to had no regrets about going bilateral. In fact they were positively enthusiastic.

We attended a lecture given by Dr Bob Peters of the Dallas programme entitled “Two Ears Are Better Than One” and spoke with him and also with Jim Patrick ,chief scientist with Cochlear. Both were very encouraging. We also realised that hair cell regeneration was not going to be developed soon enough to benefit Bradley. Bradley now wanted his bilateral as soon as possible. Even though he was not an ideal candidate, the Nottingham Implant team were very supportive. They knew Bradley was already a very good implant user and understood his reasons for requesting the second implant. They agreed to his bilateral on condition that we could obtain funding for it. The implant team submitted an application to our Primary Care Trust. We sent letters of support from our GP and from the surgeon on the Nottingham team. We explained the short window of opportunity that was available if this was to be a success and that the timing was crucial. The operation needed to be done before Bradley transferred to secondary school so that he could work on his hearing during the summer holiday break before starting at secondary school. Thankfully our PCT saw the importance of this and agreed to fund the bilateral so Bradley received his Nucleus Freedom in his left ear in March 2006.

The operation was so much quicker the second time around and the scar a tiny incision behind his ear. At the switch on, it was absolutely amazing to see Bradley respond to sound after not hearing in his left ear for nearly 11 years – more tear jerking than the first time! Bradley had not been wearing a hearing aid in that ear and the gap between implants was almost 8 years. It was unknown territory and Bradley was a pioneer.

The results have been astonishing. From the initial switch on Bradley has worn both implants all the time. After tuning sessions he would always put his old implant on first .We would then have a series of programmes to move up through between each tuning session. For the first two months, he did ten minutes, increasing to half an hour each day listening with the new implant alone. It soon became clear how much Bradley could hear with just the new implant. After only three tuning sessions he could answer my questions, even if I was standing behind him. I was delighted, as I had expected it to take much longer, since his ear that had not been stimulated for so many years. Within three months Bradley was hearing as well with the new implant as the old one. Incredible!

 Has it made a difference? The answer is a resounding yes!

In the classroom he finds listening easier and less tiring. He can have friends sitting on either side of him and he hears his teammates better when he plays sports. It has helped him to hear better in noisier situations although this is still hard – but not many hearing people manage well in noisy pubs and parties either! He is getting better at knowing which side sound is coming from and he has a back up, if one implant does not work. God designed us to see with two eyes and hear with two ears. Now Bradley can hear with both his ears. That just has to be common sense.

Annie Wilson, Bradley’s mother and Trustee of the Cochlear Implanted Children’s Support Group (CICS) for information on CICS www.cicsgroup.org.uk