In early 2024, we asked a few nominated recipients who their biggest supporters were in their hearing journeys. The answers varied, from husbands to wives to daughters, and we were so struck by their stories that we had to invite them out to Colorado to share them with us in person. We were reminded when we saw Will and Denise, Jerry and Sherri, Cathy and Molly and Dr. G and Roseann, that our loved ones are truly there for us at all steps of life. Some of our recipients were Cochlear volunteers who let us know the messages they’d like to pass on to future recipients. Some of the participants were loved ones who wanted to let other loved ones know that they aren’t alone, and the journey gets easier. Let’s meet these recipients and their loved ones and look at a day in their lives as the stars of our video shoot!
Strengthening Connection with Will and Denise
Will first noticed his hearing loss during his time in the military. His family consistently noticed that everything around him was getting louder and louder; things like the TV and the radio. His coworkers encouraged him to go to the doctor and get his hearing checked. Will finally took the encouragement seriously after he was nearly T-boned by an ambulance because he couldn’t hear the sirens while he was driving. That was when he knew he needed a change.
“I knew I had to be there for him,” his wife, Denise, let us know over a video call. “He was stubborn!”
Denise, also a military veteran, met Will during her time in the service.
“We were in the same unit. He just signed in, and he came into my office, and he was so loud that I couldn’t stand it!” Denise told us in her interview on the day of the shoot. She continued lovingly, “but he kept coming back.”
Will credits Denise with being one of his biggest supporters during his cochlear implantation, and now gets to reap the benefits of what now feels like a stronger bond as a whole.
Dr. G and Roseann’s Forbidden Love Turns Into a Supportive Journey
Dr. G met his wife, Roseann, 58 years ago. She was a nurse, and he was a surgeon. Their relationship was forbidden by the hospital they both worked at, but they decided to continue seeing each other anyway, and have since been married for 53 years.
Over the years, while Roseann has loved Dr. G’s nurturing spirit, his warm heart, and his dedication to his craft, she also began to resent some of the things his hearing loss made hard for both of them.
“I started avoiding talking through the telephone,” Dr. G admitted during his interview, “regardless of who is on the other side.”
“Believe me, at times it would get annoying, frustrating, to always be taking his messages,” Roseann said. “I felt like a secretary.”
However, when Dr. G finally became the recipient of a Cochlear™ Nucleus® System, communication between the two of them completely changed.
Jerry’s New and Old Family Members Push Him Forward
“We’ve been married 40 years; 40 plus years,” Sherri told us about her husband, Jerry, who has had a Nucleus® System since 2022. “There were things that we enjoyed early on in our marriage and eventually kept cutting more and more of them out.”
Jerry and Sherri’s marriage had flourished over the years, but communication became a struggle as Jerry’s hearing began to get worse. In 2015, several things happened that shifted Jerry’s focus more towards finding a solution, including their family growing.
“We’re building a family in our seventies,” Sherri said, referring to when she and Jerry became a host family for two girls from Panama in 2015. The couple became so attached to the girls that they began to feel more than hosts: they felt like parents. After the first of the two returned to Panama, the other—Iby—decided to stay in the U.S. and Jerry and Sherri made the life-changing decision to adopt her as an adult.
In 2020, when the pandemic forced everyone inside, Jerry was forced to confront the idea that maybe he wasn’t communicating with his new family the way he wanted to.
“The part that’s discouraging is knowing that you have your limits,” Jerry admitted.
That’s when he decided to research a cochlear implant, and with Sherri and Iby’s encouragement, he moved forward with implantation.
Cathy and Molly Share a Bond Stronger Than Ever
Before Cathy was implanted, she relied on her two daughters to help her with communication. The telephone, just like with Dr. G, was hard for her as well.
“I depended on so many people,” she said to Will during her interview.
“Me and my sister would have to step in and get on the phone with her and help her through conversation,” Molly, her oldest daughter, said. “It was sad for me to see her frustrated more so than me.”
Molly watched behind the camera as Cathy described her struggles with hearing loss, and even teared up a little when Cathy mentioned that her family was one of the biggest reasons why she decided to take a step forward towards a solution.
“It kind of makes you more of a team,” Molly said, noting that her communication with her mom has been strengthened thanks to Cathy’s cochlear implant.
A Video Shoot Brings Them All Together
On the day of the video shoot in late May of 2024, each pairing arrived with a different story to tell. After entering hair and makeup, each of them did an interview with their partner to talk about their experiences both with hearing loss and as a loved one of someone with hearing loss.
Then, we turned the tables and paired different loved ones together, and also paired recipients together with someone they hadn’t had the chance to meet yet. Will interviewed Cathy, Dr. G chatted with Jerry, Sherri shared with Roseann, and Denise and Molly chatted about their memories. All the while, their loved ones watched from a table behind the camera, reacting to each story in real time.
“Just to say ‘hey, I went through this.’ It’s wonderful to be able to express that,” Roseann said about sharing her story.
After the interviews, the recipients and loved ones were taken to a table filled with grapes, cheeses, crackers, meats, and more—as well as champagne to toast to their emotional day.
“To cochlear implants, and to families,” Will said, bringing everyone together in a toast to celebrate recipients and loved ones alike, to resounding cheers from the crew.
We want to thank our recipients and their loved ones for making the journey out to Colorado to share their stories with us. You can see the full video, including some behind the scenes footage, at the video below!
Like our recipients and their loved ones above, you can share your hearing wins by tagging us on social media: use the hashtag #HearingWin, email us at cam-hearingwins@cochlear.com or find out how you could turn your hearing loss into a hearing win.
