Diana Richards’ son, Kason, was born deaf, as was Ms Richards, but he has “gone ahead in leaps and bounds” since his Cochlear implant surgery in early November.

Ms Richards said it was wonderful that Kason could get both implants so young, funded by the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre.

“They rely on the community to put money into funding,” she said.

“Relying on the community and the government – that’s the hard part. Honestly, we would struggle without any kind of funding. Without his ‘ears’ he has a lot of frustration trying to communicate with me.”

Ms Richards did not get her implants until she was six years old, which affected her speech, whereas, she said, Kason had begun to get “very chatty” since his surgery.

“He had stopped babbling before the surgery, but now he is saying sounds and turns for his name,” she said.

“He knows what no is and is a lot more cheeky and humorous.”

She said his hearing impairment had affected his balance and movement and was now sitting up and crawling.

“Before he wasn’t doing anything but rolling,” she said.

“He’s gone ahead in leaps and bounds. He smiled and giggled when he had his implants turned on.” 

The downside, though, is that the family needs to travel to Newcastle for all follow-up appointments including speech therapy.

“He needs to have continuing treatment for learning and listening and speech therapy,” she said.

“Everything is in Newcastle and Sydney and we need more regional services out here because there’s been a big increase in hearing impairment in the community. I know of a couple of people in Gunnedah and people in Tamworth who are all relying on me for information. There are about 55 children in the region with Cochlear implants.”

For those wanting to support the centre, donations can be made online at http://www.scic.org.au/our-

charity/your-donation/.