Mum refused to accept ‘second best' for daughter

For any mother, the day that your child says ‘mama’ for the first time is special, but when Mullingar’s Lorraine Murphy heard her daughter Anna utter the word, it was particularly emotional.

Anna – who is now a bubbly four-year-old full of talk – was born deaf, and proud mum Lorraine says she would never have spoken if she hadn’t had a cochlear implant inserted. 

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Lorraine says the procedure, which took place in August 2011, just before Anna’s second birthday, has “completely changed” her daughter’s life.

“Before it she was completely silent, you never knew where she was. Also, she was very insecure before the implants and always stuck to me. She was even late with her laughing as she had never heard a laugh – every little thing was affected.

“Now she is the first one up to sing and dance at parties. She is confident. She is very vocal and while her speech is a little bit delayed, the doctors say there is no reason that she won’t catch up. She has been assessed and intellectually everything is bang on. It’s just a matter of time.”

Lorraine says Anna was three years and three months old when she first heard the word mama, and now it’s a word she never stops hearing. “I don’t think you believe it until it starts happening and then it’s even more special,” she said.

Anna, like every other Irish child that has undergone the procedure, had only one cochlear implant fitted and in May last year had to revert to signing when her implant faded.

However, thanks to the hard work of Lorraine and the other members of the Happy New Ear campaign group, from January 1 all newborns will be fitted with bilateral cochlear implants. The HSE has also committed to providing a second implant to children such as Anna.

“In every other first world country except New Zealand, children have the chance of having two. While Anna’s hearing with one is good, it is a bit like listening to something on a telephone and if it fails, she can’t hear. If you have two, it’s a far more normal learning experience.”

Lorraine says that the government would not have introduced bilateral implants if it wasn’t for the Happy New Ear campaign.

“We have been asking since 2007 for this. We have lobbied everyone, met the HSE three times and been in every newspaper, on radio station and television show that would have us. We tried everything and anything. Gerry Adams was the first party leader to meet us and told us that it was a winnable campaign. Robert Troy was also a big help.

“We had a group of 20 active members who worked our socks off. It was something that I couldn’t accept. I couldn’t have looked at my daughter and thought that I’d accepted second best,” said Lorraine.