Schoolboy deaf for nine years regains hearing after cotton bud pops out of his ear.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk
Jerome Bartens, 11, was diagnosed as deaf in his right ear when he was just two. He struggled at school, couldn’t hear the TV properly and was fed up with people having to shout at him.
But when playing pool with his friends in a church hall Jerome felt a sudden pop. He put his finger in his ear and there was the tip of a cotton wool bud which had been wedged there for almost 10 years.
His family believe Jerome was a toddler when he put the cotton bud in his ear and the centimetre-long cotton tip came off the plastic stem.
Jerome’s dad Carsten, 45, said: “It was just incredible – his hearing returned to normal in an instant. He was cured as suddenly as he became deaf. I had always suspected Jerome had stuck something in his ear when he was little and that was causing the problem. But the
doctors and hearing specialists said it was wax and he would probably
grow out of it.
“I am amazed they didn’t spot something as obvious as a cotton wool bud.”
Jerome has kept the waxy cotton bud as a souvenir of his nine years of silence on his right.
His family believe that as he grew the bud has been forced out – and finally came out nine years later.
Single dad Carsten, of Haverford west, Pembrokeshire, has now complained to his GP and hearing specialists who examined Jerome over the years.
He said: “It has held Jerome back in school and caused him problems in communicating with his friends.”
Lorry driver Carsten – who has two older daughters Takita, 16, and Tiffany, 14, – says he’s “thrilled” that Jerome’s hearing has come back.
He said: “If he was playing down the garden I would have to shout for him eight or nine times before he would respond.
“But now he has 100 per cent hearing and he’s just a normal boy again.”
Jerome is due to be examined by hearing experts later this week – and his dad is taking along the cotton wool bud as proof of his “miraclecure”.
The schoolboy said: “I can hear much better now and I think I’ll be much happier at school now my ear does not ache all the time.
“I was just playing pool in the church hall when my ear made a popping noise. It was very strange at first to be able to hear everything.
“But now I’m getting used to it – it’s great that people don’t have to shout to me or that I don’t have to turn my head all the time.”
I am writing this from a deaf persons perspective. When I tried to put a comment on the forum about it, my comments were not approved.
Newspapers print these stories but never get opinions from a deaf persons perspective. Rather they look for comments from a charity such as RNID (all hearing).
This is typical of many deaf children who struggle with incompetence from: doctors, health education authorities, some parents and bad advice from charities!
Although I am not deaf in one ear like Jerome was, people cannot understand what it’s like and reading the comments on that link; one wrote ,
‘What’s wrong with his other ear?’
Take a good look at this link and see what single-sided-deafness means – written by Ray Gillies-Jones
http://tribalvillages.org/deaf/single-sided-deafness.html
• He had an ear ache.
I am amazed that doctors haven’t looked into his ears.
I have lost count how many of my deaf friends and me had our ears poked and prodded and those who wear hearing aids had their ears syringed.
• His father said: “It has held Jerome back in school and caused him problems in communicating with his friends.”
He had to struggle through school, which shows how bad the education system was and is. It has nothing to do with deafness.
Not able to hear does not mean he can be held back, the problem is that he was in mainstream school. While most of the disabled groups are happy with inclusion or mainstreaming children, but it is damaging for deaf people because we know this does not work, to which Jerome have proven.
Secondly what did his dad do regarding support? Did he not get advice from a single sided deafness group?
It’s a wonder Jerome’s dad wasn’t pressurised into giving Jerome a CI or a BAHA as its getting common these days, pressurising parents that they have to have implants or be made guilty that they will be held back if they do not do so.
Shouting at him 9 or 10 times suggests the fact his father was too lazy to get him.
• Now that he has 100 percent hearing he is just a “normal” boy again.
Since when are deaf people are abnormal?
I am happy for Jerome as he knows how difficult things were and he was treated differently.
This all to common attitude, treating deaf people as abnormal, along with bad newspaper reporting, portrays being deaf as if it were a tragedy and having a difficult and struggled life!
No doubt there will be more and more stories like this where deaf = abnormal and hearing = normal.
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