Family’s joy over Freya’s big journey
Mum over moon after fears of living in silence recede
A SHOCK diagnosis has led to a rollercoaster of emotion for a young Townsville family.
When 3-year-old Freya Zarate was born, mother Emily immediately picked up that something wasn’t quite right with her latest bundle of joy.
“She wasn’t making noise in the hospital and we started to suspect that something wasn’t right,” Ms Zarate said.
“My other two children would cry and cry and Freya just didn’t. It was very unusual for a baby.”
For three months, Emily and her husband Matthew were left with no answers over why their daughter was struggling.
“It was just awful, I was crying a lot with all the unknowns, not knowing what’s going on,” Ms Zarate said.
“When the test finally happened, I can still remember the details of the room we were in, that’s how much it stuck in my mind.
“The doctor came over and told us she’d failed and that she had permanent hearing loss. We just looked at each other and silently cried. We couldn’t even think of a question to ask.”
After a tumultuous year of testing and a lack of answers as to the nature of Freya’s hearing loss, the family were devastated by further blows.
“It did deteriorate. She’s now got mild to moderate impairment,” Ms Zarate said. “Normally that first year is all love and happy memories, but we were constantly having to think about it and analyse her. It was a hard 12 months. I’d blamed myself. I thought it was something I’d done wrong. That took a really long time to get past.”
The Zarates were eventually put in touch with paediatrics specialist Dr Siva at Townsville University Hospital, who then helped put them in touch with other specialist organisations, including Hear and Say.
“It was only then that we got a good picture of what
I’D BLAMED MYSELF. I THOUGHT IT WAS SOMETHING I’D DONE WRONG EMILY ZARATE
Freya was going through. Three years on, we’re still doing genetic testing to try and find answers. She has low muscle tone, hearing loss and some eye impairment,” Ms Zarate said. “It’s been difficult having this big question mark and knowing that our reality might change again.”
Hear and Say, a not-forprofit organisation that provides speech pathology, therapy and cochlear implants to children, helped things begin to turn around for young Freya.
“Until then, she wouldn’t communicate with anyone outside of our family. She
would just look at people and turn away,” Ms Zarate said.
“But the change happened so quickly, soon she was looking into people’s eyes and she’d actually say hello.
“She started to converse with people, then we were able to get her into dancing. After a year of working with Liza Bowen, she’s been communicating with sentences, she can talk to her educators
and her dance instructors. It’s amazing.
“We never thought it would be a possibility. She talks circles around our other children now. She’s really lively and charismatic. It’s really helped to draw all that out of her.”
Hear and Say chief executive Greg Elphinston said the organisation wouldn’t be able to do the work if it weren’t for
its supporters. He urged the community to donate across Thursday, May 19, “Giving Day”.
“Giving Day is a 12-hour online fundraising event dedicated to raising essential donations which will be doubled thanks to our generous corporate and philanthropic donors,” he said.