The sounds of success<\/p>\n
15-year-old one of more than 15,000 youths to get surgery<\/p>\n
By Elaine Marsilio (Contact)<\/p>\n
Monday, February 9, 2009<\/p>\n
CORPUS CHRISTI \u2014 Andy Garza heard his mother’s voice for the first
\ntime when he was 14.<\/p>\n
“Andy, I love you.”<\/p>\n
It was September 2007, and a month after Andy’s cochlear implant
\nsurgery. Sandra Ortiz stood across from her son as the doctor turned
\non his battery-operated processor.<\/p>\n
He asked in sign language if he was hearing music.<\/p>\n
“He thought my voice was music,” Ortiz said.<\/p>\n
Then Andy heard ocean waves crash.<\/p>\n
And jet engines rumble.<\/p>\n
And hip-hop music, which he now enjoys the most.<\/p>\n
He wants other deaf children to experience the same sounds, through
\ncochlear implantation — a surgical procedure that places a small
\ndevice under the ear’s skin to help transmit noises to the brain.<\/p>\n
Andy and his mother started Andy’s Day One Fund at Driscoll
\nChildren’s Hospital in December. The fund was set up to help
\nlow-income children needing cochlear implants afford the surgery,
\nwhich can cost as much as $200,000.<\/p>\n
“It’s to keep it going kind of like a pay-it-forward,” Ortiz said,
\nnoting Andy received an anonymous donation for most of his surgery.
\nDriscoll paid for some of the surgery as well, Ortiz said.<\/p>\n
Martha St. Romain, vice president for development at Driscoll, worked
\nwith Ortiz on setting up the fund, which likely will increase
\nchildren’s accessibility to the cochlear implant program at the
\nhospital.<\/p>\n
“There are so many needs and there are never enough resources,” she
\nsaid. “This program is just another example of health care that is
\navailable.”<\/p>\n
Andy, who was born with bilateral profound deafness, tried other
\nmethods, such as hearing aids, and attended the Texas School for the
\nDeaf in Austin for a short time before receiving the implant. The
\nKaffie Middle School eighth-grader now works on speech therapy at
\nschool and Driscoll. He learns how to move his mouth, form words and
\nread lips.<\/p>\n
The small device implanted under the skin is aided with the help of a
\nprocessor worn externally behind the ear. The battery-operated
\nprocessor and connected microphone help transmit noises to a person’s
\nhair cells in the ear through the nerves and then to the brain. A
\ntransmitter and stimulator are used to convert noises into impulses
\ndirectly to the ear or brain.<\/p>\n
The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders
\nreports that at the end of 2006 — the most recent year for which
\nstatistics were available — about 23,000 American adults and 15,500
\nAmerican children had received the implants.<\/p>\n
Ortiz said the family waited for technology to evolve before she
\nfinally asked Andy if he wanted to undergo the procedure.<\/p>\n
“It’s a scary decision to make,” she said, noting she wanted Andy to
\nbe sure he wanted the procedure. In addition, the NIDCD reports there
\nare complications that can arise from the implantation surgery, and
\nthat not all patients respond in similar ways.<\/p>\n
Benna Timperlake, executive director of The Deaf and Hard of Hearing
\nCenter, said implantation can work for people who have exhausted other
\nefforts, such as hearing aids.<\/p>\n
“People who can’t use hearing aids need other options,” she said.
\n“That’s where the implants are wonderful.”<\/p>\n
Andy is a typical teenage boy, Ortiz said, noting he plays on his
\nNintendo Wii, listens to rock music and likes girls.<\/p>\n
He dreams of becoming a pilot, and he often asks his mom for
\nassurance.<\/p>\n
“I tell him that you can be anything that you want to be,” she said.<\/p>\n
Contact Elaine Marsilio at 886-3794 or marsilioe@caller.com<\/p>\n
ANDY’S DAY ONE FUND<\/p>\n
Andy Garza and his mother, Sandra Ortiz, have started Andy’s Day One
\nFund to raise funds for low-income children who can’t afford cochlear
\nimplant surgery.<\/p>\n
Andy, who was born with profound deafness, underwent the surgery in
\n2007.<\/p>\n
To make a donation, call 694-6405, or mail donations to Driscoll
\nChildren’s Hospital Development Office, 3533 S Alameda St., Corpus
\nChristi, TX 78411.<\/p>\n
DRISCOLL RADIOTHON<\/p>\n
Sandra Ortiz will be a guest speaker during Driscoll Children’s
\nHospital’s seventh Annual K99 Radiothon live from the Driscoll lobby
\nabout 10 a.m. Friday to talk about the Day One Fund. The radiothon,
\nwhich runs from 6 a.m. Thursday to noon Saturday, raises money for
\nDriscoll’s specialized pediatric programs and equipment. Donors can
\nspecify for their contribution to go directly to Andy’s Day One Fund,
\nsaid Martha St. Romain, Driscoll vice president for development.<\/p>\n