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St. Louis Children's Hospital gives 12-year-old the gift of sound

After years of searching for help, a partially deaf 12-year-old got cochlear implants

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Children’s Hospital is giving the gift of sound to a 12-year-old who is deaf in one ear.

They approved him for a Cochlear implant, something many doctors wouldn’t do because Ian Farley can hear out of one ear.

“I was hard of hearing when I was born,” Ian said.

Being able to hear out of one ear has been very beneficial but being deaf in the other has limited his potential, until now.

"He doesn't see what he's missing,” Bernadette Rakszawski, audiologist said. “If you don't hear it you don't know someone is calling your name."

The hearing issues were holding him back.

“Obviously little kids are hanging around groups of friends often,” Rakszawski said. “If it's hard to hear, it can be hard to make those bonds. It can lead to a speech or language delay, issues in school."

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Finding medical help was even harder than managing a social life.

"Nobody could explain to me why he couldn't have a cochlear implant,” Lisa Farley, his mother said.

Traditionally, since he can partially hear, doctors wouldn’t approve him for an implant. Doctors tried several other options but none of them worked.

After years of searching for help, the Jackson, Mississippi native heard the right answers from doctors at Children’s Hospital.

For a month, Ian and mom drove 14-hours every weekend to try his implant and have it turned perfectly for his ear.

"He’s a star performer,” Rakszawski said. “He works hard at his implant. It's not a matter of putting it on the morning he does a lot of exercises."

All of the struggles, all of the miles, all of the practice was worth the gift of sound.

“Listening to music, it sounded different," Ian said.

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