A BOY who has made a remarkable recovery following a bionic ear operation in a UK hospital last week will return to the facility in six weeks to have the device switched on.
Calum Geary arrived home to Ballyhooley, Co Cork, yesterday, a week earlier than expected, following a pioneering auditory brainstem implant procedure at Manchester University Hospital on February 28th.
The three-year-old, who has been deaf from birth, was the first Irish child to undergo the operation, which involved implanting an ABI device, known as a bionic ear.
The device will enable the boy to hear. Calum is one of 141 children worldwide who have undergone the procedure.
His father Andrew Geary said Calum’s recovery had been “absolutely remarkable”.
“The consultants in Manchester are delighted with his progress – that he was allowed to come home to Ireland at this stage is great – we were expecting to spend at least another week in England,” said Mr Geary, who arrived home yesterday afternoon with his wife Helen and twin sons, Calum and Donnacha.
“We are running on flat batteries, but it’s great to be back and under our own roof with our other two kids Barry (8) and Matthew (6),” he said.
The family began their long trip home on Monday, travelling by train to Hollyhead, before taking a ferry to Dublin and a train from Heuston to Mallow in Co Cork.They will travel back to Manchester when the device will be switched on, but it will take 12 months before they see developmental changes in Calum.
“You don’t know how good the quality of the sounds will be for 12 months. It takes a lot of programming and mapping of electrodes in the ABI device,” said Mr Geary.
Calum’s parents are now trying to source a speech therapist experienced in working with deaf people, to work with Calum once the device is switched on.
Fundraising efforts are continuing as the boy’s post-operative speech therapy is likely to cost tens of thousands of euro over the next three years.
Meanwhile, the Gearys will travel to the John Tracy Clinic in California in July, where they will learn how to communicate with Calum using methods other than sign language.
Donations can be made to the Calum Geary Trust, care of Ulster Bank, Pearse Square, Fermoy, Co Cork or at Ulster Bank sort code:
98 57 25, a/c no: 10516017