Unbelievable Video of Another Esteem Recipient

October 15th:

I had been asked at work if I saw the Ellen Show recently (everyone knows I love Ellen) and I sadly had to say no, can't hear TV well enough to watch it right now, but why? There was a segment of a woman whom Ellen invited on her show that was very recently activated with the Esteem device and her You Tube video went viral, causing a national sensation and many to fall in love with this girl! She has since been on several national and local interviews and is a minor celebrity in her own right. She is using this attention to gain spotlight for Envoy Esteem and also to get insurance companies to take notice of the wonders this surgery can bring people, and to hopefully begin approving covering the procedure as they do cochlear implants.

When I watched her You Tube video and her Ellen guest appearance, my heart soared. This would be me in two days!! I would discover the sounds I'd been missing out on my entire life and get to hear my own voice in my head as it really sounds! When she reacted to her activation and began to cry, I also cried tears of absolute joy with her. You don't have to be HoH to get swept up in that moment and understand, it was definately a universal emotion!

I've tried to think of ways to explain to someone what it's like for me, as a HoH person, to hear my voice or your voice. I don't hear my voice in my ears as you do. The sound is almost blocked, so when I talk, I hear what my hearing aids pick up and transmit back into my ears. That sound is an artificial sound. I imagine that is what a lot of HoH persons would say. I've also been told over and again that I'm a very soft spoken person, which seems to contradict those with hearing loss. That I can't explain, it's just how I talk.

But back to the Ellen Show and her guest, Sarah Churman. I'd finally found the perfect piece of footage to show my friends and family what this device was really about! The excitement for my activation day was really buzzing now:-)

All you have to do is Google Sarah Churman and you can have your pick of video interviews to watch. My personal favorites are her YouTube activation video and The Ellen DeGeneres Show interview.