Along with sharing the amazing story of her son Jackson, Tammany Atkinson, mother of two and founder of Bee’s Knees, shared some fascinating facts about infant hearing loss.

• Approximately 33 babies are born every day with a significant hearing loss in the United States.
• Nearly 50% of newborns with hearing loss are not diagnosed until at least the second year of life.
• Less than 20% of the children born in the U.S. are born in hospitals that offer universal newborn hearing screening programs.
• Studies have shown that when hearing loss is detected later, an important time frame for developing speech and language skills has passed.
• As a result, speech and language development is delayed and academic and social skills may be adversely affected.
• Treatment has the best results when hearing loss is detected before the child is 6 months of age and infants who are identified with hearing loss can be fit with hearing amplification as young as four weeks of age.*

Early diagnosis of childhood hearing loss is so important. By graciously sharing her story with us, Tammany hopes to help parents who may be facing the same issue or may one day face it in the future.

-Tracey Frost Rensky, CEO and Co-founder, Citibabes

We will never forget the day Jackson was first diagnosed at Sick Children’s Hospital. He was 16 months old. From the time he was 8 months we had been going through the process of having him tested. One of the tests told us he could hear and our family doctor told us he “seemed fine.” It was a Friday and Jackson was given a few quick tests and then we were hit with the news: our son was born profoundly deaf.

Immediately after the diagnosis we had to have Jackson fitted for hearing aids. As we were holding him down and he was screaming while the molds were being injected into his ears, I thought, “How can this be happening? This is what old people go through – not our baby.”

One day the following week my husband was dressed and ready to go to work but couldn’t leave. He sat down on a chair crying, unable to face the day. Jackson, being accustomed to a silent world, was so in tune to facial expressions and emotions.

At only 16 months he looked at Paul and then at me with the most concerned look, then he crawled up on Paul’s lap and wiped the tears off his face, hugged him and patted his back. It was at this moment we realized that Jackson wasn’t given to us imperfectly. This is part of who he was. We could work on the hearing but nothing was going to change the fact that he was special and we needed to love him as the complete package, because without each one of his characteristics he wouldn’t be Jackson.

The morning of the surgery we woke Jackson up at 3:00 am. I remember going into his crib and thinking we were taking him to get the best gift he would ever receive in his entire life. I carried him into the operating room and held him down as he cried and the anesthesiologist put him out. Looking back at his little body on the operating table was difficult but it is strange how calm and strong you can be when you are doing what is best for your child.   

When our surgeon came out and told us how well it went it was such an emotional moment. To think that this permanent problem, this hole in our hearts, could be fixed is a feeling no one could ever understand unless they have experienced it.

Finally the day came for Jackson’s equipment to be turned on and for him to hear for the first time. We commented how we couldn’t believe how well he took to it and how happy he was. Dr. Papsin, his surgeon, replied, “Of course he is. It is the first time he has ever heard the sound of his own footsteps.” To this day I still find that to be the most emotional moment of my life.  It is amazing what we take for granted and how much these special children enlighten us.

Jackson in now 6.5 years old. He graduated from his AVT therapy last November – a day we never thought would come for us. It is funny how at one time this seemed so out of reach and now we have this child that is speaking so beautifully and is fully caught up to his hearing peers.  I recently watched a movie with Marlee Matlin about a deaf mother wanting her deaf son to receive a cochlear implant. While watching I suddenly realized that Jackson doesn’t even know what the word deafness means. In fact, I don’t think we can remember either. We have a typical hearing child who speaks beautiful language and goes to a school with hearing children and is even learning to speak French this year!

Jackson’s journey has not been easy but through it we have discovered that our  greatest source of strength often comes from our children who will never cease to amaze us and how blessed we are to have them continually teach us about life, courage and resilience.

By Tammany Atkinson, Mother of Two and Founder of Bee’s Knees

*These and other infant hearing loss facts and statistics can be found by visiting: http://www.ndcpd.org/1stsounds/infant.shtml.

Tammany is the founder of Bee’s Knees - a mom-invented product: baby pants with neoprene padding in the knees to protect crawling babies.  Bee’s Knees is committed to educating people about infant hearing loss and cochlear implants. For more information, please contact Tammany Atkinson at beesknees@look.ca.

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