South Carolina doctors give young Ukraine war refugee the gift of sound

A household that fled Ukraine final yr got here to the US in determined want of solutions — and a miracle. They feared their younger daughter, 2-year-old Zlata Kuzmina, was fully deaf.

However all hope wasn’t misplaced. Once they settled in South Carolina, they met a listening to specialist who was capable of assist, and acquired an surprising and treasured reward: the reward of sound.

Diana Kuzmina and her husband Olech Kuzmin had dreamed of coming to the US since their kids — Zlata and her 6-year-old brother Filip — have been born. However they stated their visa software was denied repeatedly. 

The despair of Ukraine’s struggle with Russia finally introduced them right here final yr. In February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started and so they have been granted refugee standing.

The journey from their residence in Odessa, Ukraine, to the US took practically two months, with stays in Moldova, the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. They left every thing behind besides what they may carry. 

They got here wanting not only for a greater life, but additionally for medical care for his or her daughter. The couple was involved over their incapacity to speak along with her.

The household settled in Boiling Springs, South Carolina. Olech Kuzmin landed a job at a close-by BMW plant, and the household says they have been welcomed by the group, who needed to assist. 

“Lots of people prayed for us and God despatched us an excellent staff and a really good physician,” stated Diana Kuzmina, “and we’re very grateful for this.”

The “very good” physician was Dr. Teddy McRackan, a surgeon and cochlear implant specialist. It seems his nice grandparents fled persecution in Odessa a century earlier than, though he stated that is not what related them. 

“I feel my private connection was actually extra as a guardian attempting to do the perfect factor for his or her youngster, as a result of I might solely think about if it have been my youngster and, you realize, they have been in a particularly unlucky state of affairs,” he stated. “In the US, each youngster ought to get screened for listening to loss as a part of the routine workup earlier than the kid leaves the hospital. That does not exist within the Ukraine.”

He stated it wasn’t till Zlata was 6 or 7 months outdated that her mom realized there have been points associated to her listening to. 

“The workup began at that time after which … the struggle broke out,” he stated.

McRackan and his staff on the Medical College of South Carolina confirmed the lady was deaf in her left ear, however they noticed a glimmer of hope. 

“We noticed that she was responding at very, very loud ranges to noise in that proper ear,” McRacken stated.

For practically two hours in mid-March, McRackan and his staff surgically positioned a cochlear implant in her ear in a process carried out on the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Kids’s Hospital. An inside processor and receiver was inserted below the pores and skin and muscle behind her proper ear, and he created a path for an electrode that stimulates the auditory nerve. 

As soon as activated, the stimulation of the auditory nerve sends indicators to the mind, which then interpret them as sound for that ear. 

However the surgical procedure was no assure she would hear sound in her proper ear. Nonetheless, McRackan stated it will “give her the perfect probability potential in the case of having a type of auditory listening to.”

The household waited a month for the incision to heal earlier than the gadget might be turned on to find out if the process was successful.

It was.

When the gadget was turned on in April, Zlata might hear — an emotional second for her dad and mom. 

Whereas this does not remedy Zlata of being deaf, she is ready to hear with the gadget hooked up to her head and the implant. 

Her mom hopes she is going to now be capable to perceive what her household says, and sings — “and I hope she is going to sing with us.”