The Willa Family
 Our story starts with our first born son Kaidan. Kaidan was born in August of 2003. Several hours after he was born our pediatrician alerted us to a potential problem. Kaidan was born with a white forelock of hair and bright blue eyes both of which were classic signs of Waardenberg Syndrome. Kaidan would go on to fail all of his newborn hearing screening. At 48 hours old we had him tested at the House Ear Institute where they confirmed him to be profoundly deaf in both ears. Not sure where to turn for answers we were recommended to the John Tracy Clinic. We decide that we wanted Kaidan to be oral so at 6 weeks old he was fitted with his first pair of hearing aids. By age 1 the hearing aids were still not a benefit. At that time Kaidan qualified and received a cochlear implant on his right ear. The results were amazing. At age 2 Kaidan received his second implant and again the results were similar. Kaidan attended both the John Tracey clinic in LA and Desert Voices in Phoenix. Last year we mainstreamed Kaidan in a Pre-K class and he is doing great. He loves to go to school and has made a lot of friends. We have been very blessed to have had so many people help along the way both in schools and health care providers.
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