Sound is music to the ear
Lifetime of silence ends after cochlear re-mapped
SINCE the day he was born 25 years ago, Michael Swartz was profoundly deaf, but now he is enjoying the sound of his beloved horses, puppies and guinea pigs after his boyfriend’s laugh finally ended his perpetual silence.
All it took to change his quiet world was a re-mapping of his cochlear implant.
Swartz, who grew up on his family’s Thornpark farm and dreamed of being a vet, endured years of marginalisation and loneliness and was unable to complete his schooling due to his disability.
Despite the immense support he enjoyed from his devoted parents Sandy and Jack Swartz and his three older siblings, Swartz’s will to live began to fizzle out.
After countless medical appointments and two unsuccessful cochlear implants, the young man, who was a champion swimmer and horse-rider, became suicidal and tried repeatedly to take his own life.
Yesterday, Swartz explained what it was like to have his two stabs at hearing dashed and then to finally hear the sounds many of us take for granted following a visit to a Cape Town audiologist.
“I remember the first cochlear implant when I was three,” said Swartz. “I was sore and when they switched it on there were just vibrations. I would only see lips moving and didn’t know what a voice was. I thought a voice was for crying or screaming.”
Despite his disability, Swartz became a talented horseman and spent hours with his farm animals. His special connection with them meant they responded well to him and he trained his ponies to accommodate disabled children.
A gifted swimmer, Swartz represented South Africa at the Paralympics in Bulgaria in 2013, took up fire dancing and made the headlines when he saved three people from drowning. But full as his life was, he felt left out of conversations and loneliness bore down on the naturally sociable teen.
When he was 18, he returned to the Johannesburg hospital for a second cochlear implant operation.
“We were told he had no optic nerve in his right ear and that the old implant would be removed from his left ear and replaced with a new one,” explained Sandy.
But when the time came to switch it on, no sounds penetrated his brain. This second medical failure left Swartz battling to cope emotionally.
“I was sad. I got depressed and wanted to kill myself. I felt I would become a liability to society and felt hopeless about my future because I didn’t want to live like a disabled person.”
Dark times followed but then Swartz met boyfriend Jordan Clarke and decided to start a new life in Cape Town where he now works at a “deaf-friendly” Sea Point hotel.
A few months ago a seizure, concentration loss and other strange sensations led to a series of medical interventions that culminated in the rooms of Tygerberg Hospital’s head of audiology on January 30.
“She re-mapped the implant and his hearing was instantaneous,” said his mother, who still uses sign language when she speaks to him, but far less so than before.
“I’m puzzled about why it didn’t work before and feel disappointed he has lost so many years of his life. Now it is going to take years of speech therapy because he must learn to understand English and improve his own pronunciations and vocabulary. After all he has never heard language before.”
“I was surprised and excited to hear Jordan’s laugh,” said Swartz. “I had never heard him or anyone laugh before. It was so awesome to hear such a happy sound.”
Overjoyed, Swartz texted his delighted mother a list of all the everyday sounds he was enjoying for the first time including the wind, keys opening a door, dogs barking and even a blow drier. “Yesterday I was with my horses and I heard my sister call my name for the first time,” he said. “I am happy. I don’t want to kill myself anymore. I have hope for the future.”
● To celebrate their son’s ability to now hear, the Swartz family is throwing a huge “Michael Can Hear” party at the Old Selbornian Club on June 2. Everyone who knows or has supported their son is welcome to attend by calling Sandy Swartz on 082-658-3093. —