By Ottilie Von Henning via SWNS
This is the moment a baby born deaf hears his mom and dad’s voices for the first time after getting his cochlear implant activated.
Georgie Pfaffman was born to Sarah Pfaffman, 21, and Cole Pfaffman, 26, on November 27, 2023, after an uncomplicated pregnancy.
However, a virus that Sarah had contracted whilst pregnant had unknowingly transferred to Georgie and attacked his hearing and his brain.
As a result, Georgie was born completely deaf and the left side of his brain didn’t form correctly, which caused cerebral palsy on the right side of his body.
In spite of these struggles, Georgie has continued to grow with the support of his parents and had his cochlear implant activated on two weeks ago on October 15.
Sarah, a full-time mom from Jacksonville, Florida, said: “The moment Georgie’s implant got activated felt like Christmas and it’s felt like Christmas every day since.
“It felt like a gift from God, like a miracle, and now a whole new world opens up for Georgie.
“And he loves it so much. Everything is so new and exciting!
“He likes to watch things he’s enjoyed looking at before like the washing machine and vacuum and discover the sound that goes along to it.
“He especially loves trying to talk and listening to music.”
Sarah and Cole were told Georgie is deaf when he failed hearing tests at just five days old.
Sarah said: “Georgie was born early at 35 weeks and was taken to the NICU where he failed his hearing tests.
“After he left the NICU, we took him to an audiologist where we found out he has profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, meaning he can’t hear at all.
“He had to then wear hearing aids for four months to see if they would help but no luck.
“Eventually, on September 23 of this year, Georgie had his surgery to install the implant and his activation day was three weeks later.”
Although the ability to hear will no doubt help Georgie, Sarah still struggles with the fact that the virus she contracted was treatable but doctors didn’t warn her about it.
Sarah caught cytomegalovirus (CMV) during her second trimester, which presented like a normal cold when it was actually harming Georgie.
Sarah said: “I feel pretty let down by the medical professionals around me at the time.
“I had no idea this cold I was having could be potentially harmful to my child.
“I now go to counseling every week because I have had to deal with internal struggle of the fact Georgie is hurt because I got sick.”
