Amy Crawford (Galoob) was born profoundly deaf. Even with wearing the most powerful hearing aids as a kid, Amy still could not hear.
“I was unable to communicate with others because they were not able to understand my language style. I mostly made up words,” said Amy.
Her parents saw her struggle and decided to look for other solutions to help her improve her language and comprehension skills. Amy received her first cochlear implant at four, and her language skills blossomed. She received her second implant when she was 14.
“It was a huge change for me as I began to notice more beautiful sounds from both ears,” said Amy.
Two kids meet because of their deafness
Amy attended St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis, Missouri growing up, which is where she met Andrew, a young boy who also had a cochlear implant. Amy was in fifth grade and Andrew was in sixth when they decided to “go out.”
After dating a couple of years, Andrew’s family moved back to his hometown in Kentucky to attend mainstream school, and he told Amy she could “find another boyfriend.”
Throughout the years, Amy and Andrew continued to stay in touch as close friends, supporting each other throughout high school and college. AOL Instant Messenger, MySpace, texting, Skype, Facebook, we always found a way to keep in touch and remain friends. They met up again in person during Amy’s freshman year, but dating was out of the question since they went to colleges across the country from each other.
Three years later, Amy visited some close friends that attended the same college as Andrew. Amy’s feelings grew that weekend but Andrew was dating someone at the time. A month later, Andrew let Amy know that he was single again, invited Amy to a weekend at his family’s home in Kentucky and they fell in love.
A wedding of sound
Amy and Andrew got married December 31, 2015 in downtown Denver.
“Our deafness brought us together, and our wedding was the best day of our lives,” said Amy.
Amy has the Cochlear Nucleus 6 on her right side, and Nucleus 5 on her left. Her cochlear implants helped complete her big day.
“I took advantage of the four amazing programs in my Nucleus 6 during my wedding,” said Amy. “I was able to hear the music clear without any difficulties while I was dancing, and that goes the same for carrying on conversations with my guests. The Nucleus 6 truly made my day extra special.”
Congratulations Amy & Andrew!
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