This mother had been deaf since she was 30 years old with a rare problem, so hearing aids were no help for her. Now doctors could cure her, but she was afraid. Not afraid of the brain surgery, she was afraid of hearing her son's voice and find it too different from what she had always imagined it to be. But finally she made up her mind to go through it. On this video we'll see how she confronts her son's voice at last.

Imagine this scenario, you're 30 years old and you lose your sense of hearing, but then doctors tell you that you may have the chance to get it back. It sounds like a good thing, right? Well, for Don, making the decision was a bit more complicated.

I lost my hearing about 15 years ago.

We knew that her hearing loss was as bad as it was when we would be talking to her and she would turn and walk away. That's when we really noticed that there was a serious problem.

When I was 30 I made my first appointment to have my hearing +++. I realized that I had profound hearing loss when I lost speech recognition, so hearing aids has never been an option for me.

Communicating for me is extremely exhausting. I communicate with people by reading lips, and it's almost impossible for me to follow a conversation. In a group I'm lost very fast.

++++ really saying is that I'm completely unable to focus on here and now.

It's very difficult for me to be in large groups, so I tend to stay with this small group of people that I'm comfortable with.

The first time I met with Dr. Slattery was 2 years ago, and he told me that I was a candidate for the cochlear implant.

It was very hard to make the decision to have the surgery. It took a lot of ++++ from my family.

I'm not afraid of the surgery. I'm more afraid of hearing.

I've never heard my 8-year-old son's voice.

In my mind, I can hear my son's voice, but I know that I don't hear it. So maybe I'm afraid... of what I will hear compared to what my brain tells me that I hear.

Just yesterday, she was able to hear her 8-year-old son's voice for the very first time, and we were there to capture it.

Don's activation went fantastic. She's gonna leave here soon and go meet her son, and hear his voice for the first time.

I still haven't spoken to my youngest son and... so I'm looking forward to hearing him.

She never heard my voice. I'm just really excited that you can finally hear.

I'm nervous and hopeful, but I'm also afraid. I guess I still have that fear of... I'm not gonna hear him.

- Hey mum, can you hear me?
- Yes, ha ha!!!

- Now you can talk to me, I can hear you.
- I love you.
- Me too.
- Hey, are you happy I can hear you?
- Yes
- Ha ha ha

Now she can finally hear me and I'm not silent anymore.

SCENARIO= Situation.

LOSS= The condition of having lost something.

WOULD= We can use the modal verb WOULD to express a past habit (like USED TO).

PROFOUND= Very important, very serious.

SPEECH RECOGNITION= The ability to understand people talking.

HEARING AIDS= A little device that you put inside your ear to help you hear better.

UNABLE= If you are unable to do something, you can't do it.

FOCUS= Concentrate.

I TEND TO= I usually.

COCHLEAR= /kɒklɪə*/ A spiral-shaped cavity of the inner ear that resembles a snail shell and contains nerve endings essential for hearing.

SURGERY= Medical operation inside your body.

GONNA= (coll.) Going to.

GO MEET= (coll. esp. AmE) The verb TO GO can use three different constructions:
- Let's go to play football (standard)
- Let's go and play football (colloquial)
- Let's go play football (more coll. and more AmE)

LOOKING FORWARD TO + -ing= If you are looking forward to doing something, you feel very excited about doing it, you really want to do it.

GUESS= (coll.) Suppose.