Poppy Tocker sings loudly to herself as she draws her masterpiece on a giant whiteboard before quickly jumping onto the next thing like any other typical two-year- old, gleefully running down the hallway at her home towards a pile of stuffed animals.
But if you were to wind the clock back by just a year, this happy scene would have looked very different. For one, Poppy wouldn’t have sung so loudly – 12 months ago, she had no idea of what her own singing voice sounded like .
And she certainly wouldn’t have heard her devoted dad asking her to stop running.
With no history of hearing loss in the family, it came as a shock to Hamilton couple Sara and Mark (both 38) that something wasn’t right with their second-born child.
Tells Mark, “She failed the newborn hearing screening test at two days old.”
Medical staff reassured the parents that the negative result was common, but as the days passed, it became apparent that Poppy wasn’t hearing anything. Eventually, the tot’s deafness was revealed to be the result of cytomegalovirus, a common virus Sara had picked up during her pregnancy.
When contracted, it can pass through the bloodstream of pregnant women into the womb, potentially causing hearing loss and intellectual disabilities in babies. Doctors told Sara and Mark that Poppy had bilateral moderate sensorineural hearing loss in her left ear and profound loss in her right ear.
Says Mark, “We have no family history of hearing loss and we’d never had any experiences with anyone who was deaf, so it was a complete and utter shock.”
Mark, daughter Lily and wife Sara are working together to help Poppy catch up with her peers.
Poppy was given hearing aids to help her, but still her hearing rapidly deteriorated.
Recalls Sara, “It’s horrible to look back on it now. It was awful trying to think about how we could keep her involved in things, and even just comfort her when she cried.
“I remember at Poppy’s first birthday party, we all sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and she had no idea what was going on.”
An MRI detected profound hearing loss in both of Poppy’s ears and so the family was referred to children’s charity The Hearing House.
The lively tot had cochlear implant surgery at 18 months.
Testing there indicated the wee girl was eligible for cochlear implants, a device that helps send signals from the inner ear to the brain.
At the tender age of 14 months, Poppy underwent surgery to have the implants put in – a decision the family didn’t hesitate to make. At a cost of about $50,000 per implant, Poppy’s parents agree they are lucky they met the government criteria for funding.
“There is a risk of permanent facial paralysis and that was one thing to consider,” says Sara. “We didn’t have to think twice about it because we wanted her to have the chance of being part of the hearing world.”
In January 2015, the implants were switched on and Sara and Mark, beaming with pride, witnessed the moment 18-month-old Poppy finally heard sound. Tells Mark,
“She reacted for the first time ever and she didn’t cry – a lot of children get a fright.”
Adds Sara, “We took her to the beach when she had just had her implants turned on. She looked at the seagulls and the water, and was just amazed. It was the first time she’d heard anything like that.”
Poppy now has 95 per cent of her hearing. That’s the equivalent of your average 60-year-old’s, although her parents joke she can hear better than they can. Every week, the family travels up from Hamilton for audio-verbal therapy at The Hearing House so Poppy can develop her speech in line with other children her age.
“She loves coming here,” says Sara. “It’s a traumatic time once you get that diagnosis, but then when you come here, you’re surrounded by people who actually know what it’s like to go through it.”
Mark, who takes time off work every week to drive up to Auckland, adds,“It’s intensive therapy and we are given work to take home. Everything you do, you use as an opportunity for learning – even if there is a plane outside.”
And with five-year-old sister Lily being very protective of the toddler, Poppy’s learning has become a true family affair.
As her milestone third birthday approaches, Mark is excited that Poppy will be able to enjoy her special day this time around.
“Before, you couldn’t even get a photo of her smiling,” he tells. “Now we get so many smiles.”
The Hearing House helps deaf and hearing-impaired children listen and speak like their hearing peers. For more information, head to hearinghouse.co.nz.
Words: Ciara Pratt
