Thank you for helping my Poppy to hear
Grandad John salutes hospital
A devoted grandad has raised £500 to say thank you to hospital staff who helped his granddaughter hear for the first time.
John Allison’s grandaughter Poppy was born profoundly deaf, which was diagnosed shortly after birth.
When she was just one-yearold she underwent a mammoth seven-and-a-half hour operation to have cochlear implants inserted at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, where the Scottish Cochlear Implant Programme is based.
Now aged four, Poppy has done well with her implants and goes to mainstream nursery and will start at Brediland Primary in August.
She lives in Paisley with mum Emma, dad Lee and two younger brothers Harrison, three and George, who’s 10 months.
Lee said: “Poppy had 18 months of tests to see if she was eligible for the implants. She was fitted with them in November 2014 and they were switched on on Christmas Eve.
“It was the best Christmas present we have had. We never thought she’d hear or talk and she’s doing both.”
A cochlear implant consists of an internal receiver inside the ear which processes and transmits sound waves to a microphone on the outside of the head, giving a hearing sensation.
Lee said Poppy’s reaction when the implants were switched on wasn’t what he and Emma expected. “We’d watched all these videos online of brilliant reactions from people getting them switched on so we were waiting to see what she’d do. She just sat there. She looked about herself then started banging a drum.
“Then all Christmas you could see her head turning a lot more and her eyes got bigger and just lit up at new noises. She’s come on leaps and bounds. The staff at the hospital are all delighted with how well she’s done.”
John, 63, added: “It’s fantastic what they’ve done. The care and attention she’s received has been second to none.
“She goes to speech therapy every couple of weeks. We’re all delighted with her and the way she’s responded to it.
“She’s funny. When we’re all together and there are too many people talking at the one time, she just takes them off and goes into her own wee world.
“When she stays with us, my wife will ask her if she wants her ears on or not.”
John is a regular at The Anchor Bar in Paisley and with the help of manager Michelle and cleaner Elaine, started selling football cards to fellow punters at the end of February.
And he was delighted to raise £ 500 to donate to the Scottish Cochlear Implant department.
He said: “Each implant is worth £5,000 so £500 isn’t a lot really but we just wanted to do something to say thank you.”