Helen Keller
...o teach her and what she thought she was learning. On that day, she realized that water was not just “w-a-t-e-r”. It was something that she could feel, recognize and understand. Today, I am encouraged by Helen’s strength and determination. In December of 2001, about a week before Christmas, my husband and I found out that I was carrying our third child. We had not been planning to have any more children but found this news to be exciting just the same. It seemed as though the months flew by and it was time for her birth. Haileih Lynne Megale was born on August 9, 2004. Helen Keller 3 Haileih was a beautiful and healthy baby girl. She had ten fingers and ten toes, two arms and two legs, a head full of curly dark hair and the brightest of blue eyes. She was absolutely perfect. In the State of Michigan, it is now mandatory for all newborns to undergo a hearing test. Haileih was taken to the nursery for her exam. My husband and I had been informed that the evaluation would take approximately one hour to complete. The exam was non-invasive and routine. Therefore, we did not feel that there was anything to be concerned about. When the nurse returned with Haileih, we were told that Haileih had failed the hearing examination. However, since she had been a very large baby and the birth was pretty traumatic for her, it was possible that she had merely been sleeping so soundly that the test results might be incorrect. A new exam was scheduled for the following morning. Haileih did not pass the second test the next day or the third exam that was done a week later. My husband and I were in a stage of denial in the beginning. We wanted to prove that the nurses were wrong. An appointment was made for us to take Haileih to see a specialist in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan Medical Center. While there, a special hearing test was conducted and the results confirmed that Haileih had moderate hearing loss. She has about 35% loss of hearing in one ear and 50% loss of hearing in the other. It began to sink in and I was saddened. I could not wait for her hearing aides to be shipped to us so that I could be sure that she could hear me tell her that I love her. Helen Keller 4 In some ways, Haileih reminds me of Helen. Although their stories are very different, Haileih has the determination of Helen. I do not believe that she will ever let her hearing loss slow her down. Haileih’s vocabulary is ev...