Profoundly Seth: Now this is a date you'll want to remember.

A Date Worth Remembering: Seth's Cochlear Implant Journey

When our fundraising effort began on January 15th, 2009, we knew we were committing to a long road. Raising enough to give Seth a chance at hearing was a big task, and even with the funds in place, we were told he could not be implanted until he turned one year old. We refused to simply accept that answer. We settled on ten months, even though I had read accounts of babies implanted earlier who thrived. Very few insurers approve surgery before a child's first birthday. In the end it hardly mattered, because the money for surgery before ten or twelve months simply was not there.

The past month has been a blur of mostly unrelated developments. First, John's employer switched our insurance plan, so we had to learn an entirely new set of rules. The good news? The new plan covers two ears. The drawback? The deductible is enormous, and it covers no speech or physical therapy whatsoever. Then we changed course, moving from a surgeon we adored to another surgeon we believed could do remarkable work with Seth — one who was open to implanting both of his ears at once. That mattered greatly to us, because Seth has a striking reaction to anesthesia.

Soon after, the wonderful Courtney from Rhyan's Hope called. The same family that had donated toward our friend Jillian's second implant wanted to help us as well. The following day I checked Seth's implant fund: through bracelet sales alone, our prize package (after our contributions to Rhyan's Hope and Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep) had surpassed our original surgery goal. The money was there. But what about insurance? We could not move forward with a $200,000.00 two-ear surgery without approval. We submitted the request and were told to expect a denial followed by a long appeal. Instead, the denial was reversed in twenty-four hours — the denial letter and the approval letter arrived in the same day's mail.

Read that list once more and tell me God is not present between every line, every punctuation mark, every character. He streamlined the whole process, granting us what we never imagined we could achieve. After just over two months of fundraising, when Seth is only 8 months old, on Thursday, April 9, 2026, he will receive simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants. Every second of these last 8 months, God has guided me: to never accept no, to look for a window when a door closes, to have every piece of paperwork and every required test ready for Seth even though surgery was not expected for months. God made the insurance change possible. He moved each of you to give your money, your prayers, your time. He brought a family to Seth through Rhyan's Hope. He erased a months-long insurance ordeal in twenty-four hours. He led us to a surgeon who has performed more than 800 CI surgeries. He has blessed us with all of you who helped make this happen. He is good. All the time. One week from today, Seth will be on his way to hearing.

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Posted by El at 2:53 PM. Filed under: Cochlear Implants, fundraising, hearing, Seth.

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