Haaris emerges from the sound of silence

A GRASSCROFT couple have been on an emotional rollercoaster since their son went profoundly deaf within six weeks.

Four-year-old Haaris Mirza is learning to hear again after becoming the first boy in Saddleworth to have two cochlear implants fitted in one six-hour operation.

JANICE BARKER spoke to his parents as they look forward to him starting at the village school in September.

WHEN Haaris Mirza is running round at Friezland Pre-School, he looks just like all the other children. But closer inspection shows two processors on his ears, with a wire and a contact on each one.

They are the aids which connect to his cochlear implants, which switch his brain on to the sounds of the outside world.

The implants have been inserted behind the ears because the tiny hairs in the cochlea, which change sound vibrations in the ear to nerve impulses in the brain, are damaged, leading to permanent deafness.

On the outside a processor worn over the ear, and a microphone, held in place by a magnet, transmit sounds into the inner ear.

He was “switched on” in December, but his mother, Lizzie, said the sounds frightened him at first: “He cried and got very scared. Although he was speaking before he lost his hearing, we have to treat him like a five-month-old, he has to learn to talk again.”

Haaris now hears sounds at 30 decibels and is due back for his six-month check at the end of the month.

Before his hearing loss and operation Haaris was just an ordinary little boy at home in Mossley Road with mum Lizzie (45) and dad Mazher (39), and his sisters Amira and Zahra, now nine and seven.

But between the ages of two and three Lizzie became concerned that Haaris was behaving badly and not listening, so he was referred to Tameside Hospital ENT department for tests, which showed he had moderate hearing loss.

Lizzie was upset to hear it could be glue ear, needing grommets to be fitted.

But only six weeks later, the couple got the shocking news that further tests diagnosed profound hearing loss.

Lizzie said: “Our world fell apart.”

Haaris was referred to the Manchester Cochlear Implant Team, and several professional and voluntary groups of people began helping them and to assist Haaris to hear again.

Oldham Council’s hearing impairment team was called in, lead by Debbie Layet-Jarrafe, who accompanied the family to Haaris’s first appointment to discuss surgery.

A bewildered Lizzie was trying to take in her son’s diagnosis, as well as learning that it was caused by a congenital condition, cytomegalovirus (CMV).

It is passed from mother to baby by the placenta before birth, but the deafness may only appear at around three years old.

Lizzie said: “That first meeting with Debbie was very difficult. I was devastated,. I felt I had given it to him, and I didn’t really want to hear all this.”

But thanks to support from the team, she now has nothing but praise.

She explained: “Oldham Council has been fantastic. Almost as soon as we had the hearing test at Tameside, they got in touch and came out very quickly.

“They have been there from day one and never let us down. The amount of work they put in is amazing, yet I don’t know that they are given the recognition they deserve.”

Debbie visited the family at home to discuss Haaris’s needs, benefits, sign language, and how other families were affected.

When she went on maternity leave, advisory teacher Ros Carr-Brown took over, and liaised with Haaris’s pre-school and his future school, Friezland Primary.

She also secured a £7,000 grant for a sound field system at Friezland School, which will benefit all children, not just Haaris. It will mean the teacher’s voice can be heard clearly around the classroom.

Elsewhere, the cochlear implant team at the new Manchester Children’s Hospital provides regular speech therapy, and there are sign language classes for the family from Zahrah Islam, of Oldham’s hearing impairment team.

Lizzie added: “Friezland Pre-school and Haaris’s key worker Dianne Roberts have been a tower of strength.”

She had Haaris as a speaking, hearing child, and when he was finally diagnosed.

“They have worked alongside the teacher of the deaf, put training in place, agreed individual education plans, worked towards his goals and never treated Haaris any differently.

“He has always been included in everything and he is just another little boy to them.”

She praised Friezland Primary for being equally supportive ahead of his start in September, and added: “Friends, family and neighbours helped by having the girls when Haaris had surgery and hospital appointments, and were supportive by listening and talking.”

Now the family is looking forward to a summer treat together, with a trip on the London Eye in July courtesy of the charity Merlin’s Magic Wand, which supports children with a disability.