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My name is Gabby.
I am 17 years old, and this is my testimony.
My story begins before I was born.When my mom was 23 weeks pregnant with me her water broke suddenly.However, she wasn’t in labor or anything, it just happened.The doctor was concerned that because of what happened I could potentially be born with defects or worse, be born dead.
He suggested to my mom to abort me. My mom said no and actually fired that doctor! At 39 weeks I was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on January 16, 2003.
The day after I was born the nurses discovered that I was deaf in my left ear for no apparent reason. My life after that was okay. I did have trouble talking for awhile because I was partially deaf and had chronic ear infections.
During that time I became a sister to three siblings: a sister born in 2004, another sister born in 2007, and a brother born in 2012. I wore cross-hearing aids when I was seven and I wore them until I was 16. I admit I always had trouble hearing, but I did my best.
On September 11, 2018 things changed for me. That day is branded on my brain so well. I went to my Audiologist appointment. I was overdue for a check-up and my mom also claimed I couldn’t hear her as well as I had been up until that point. I’ll be honest, I didn’t notice. I am a teenager and isn't it a thing for teenagers to ignore others?
Boy, was my mom right! The audiologist said I lost over 60% of the hearing in my right ear, for no reason. No injury or sickness was noted over the several weeks prior. I was devastated, but I wouldn’t cry, at least not until I went into the elevator to leave.
I was going deaf and quickly.However, in December that changed. My hearing came back! All on its own! If there is one thing I’m good at it is surprising doctors. I completely stunned them, they had never seen that before. I thought it was over and that I was good to go.
January 2019 came and I had a follow-up check. My hearing dropped down again, not as bad as last time though. This brought up the question: what was causing this?
The first thing they thought is that it was Meniere’s Disease. However, they seemed to think that I was too young for that. Then they suggested that it may be an autoimmune disorder. I tried steroids, but those didn’t seem to work along with weird side effects.Then they suggested Endo-Lymphatic High Drops, but to catch it is a matter of timing.
We were all stumped and I was confused.
In March of 2019 I was approved to get a Cochlear Implant in my left ear to try to give me a boost in some hearing in case I lost it all. In April I went in for surgery. I was out for three hours and when I came to, my head was killing me. You see, the blood in your ear stays there for a little while and hurts a lot. I went home feeling a little better, but my head still hurt and my family was constantly checking on me. My dad even called from deployment to see how things were going.
The picture is of me two weeks before my surgery. I was concentrating REALLY hard on listening to the history behind Castle Gravensteen in Ghent, Belgium. I ended up putting the headphones down and talked to my mom about everything we were looking at.
After three weeks, I went in to activate my implant. If you’ve never known what sound is like and you suddenly can hear, you know how I felt. I was overwhelmed and confused. I’ve never heard before in my left ear and I was amazed. My mom caught me laughing and crying on video.
Life after became standard procedure: doctor, school, other activities, cycle back. I made quite a bit of progress and started understanding a few words and sounds in my implant. I got a new hearing aide for my right ear that helped with clarity of sound.
In August of 2019, I moved to Jacksonville, Florida. Life was thrown off schedule. We had a hurricane, house troubles, and worst of all, an impossible doctor’s office!They wouldn’t let me be seen, even though we had a referral.
Eventually we moved to a different clinic and got back into a somewhat of a normal schedule. In February I went to a specialist for autoimmune diseases, again. Because we still needed a reason for the unexplained hearing loss, we thought another round of tests could point us in the right direction. I saw the doctor, then he called his colleague to confirm the procedures that we would go through. Literally the first thing she said when she touched me was that I was double-jointed. I didn't understand, but maybe that explained some other things about my body. However, how was this relevant to my hearing loss?
As she checked me, we found that I was extremely flexible, my jaw was sideways and popped out, and that my ligaments were quite stretched. I thought to myself that this must be the reason an old injury in my ankle kept coming back to bother me. I always knew I was flexible, but didn’t realize that it wasn't normal.
The doctor suggested that I could have Ehlers-Danhlos Syndrome, a rare genetic syndrome that comes in thirteen kinds. It made sense since a rare side effect is deafness because your connective tissue is loose.
In March of 2020, I was clinically diagnosed with Ehlers-Danhlos Hypermobility Syndrome, hEDS for short (yes, with a lower case "h"). Sadly, that was not the end. If you have hypermobility you might have other diagnosis with it. Genetic testing needs to be done, but we have been waiting on our insurance to approve them.
In the meantime, my hearing is still lacking. My recent hearing tests showed another significant dip into the moderate severe level. But it is okay, because I know God is with me. The evidence: before I was born everything could have been wrong with me when my mom’s water broke, but, it wasn’t. I turned out fine, for the most part.
You know, even though that day in September was without argument, the worst day of my life, it got a little better. The pieces of the puzzle began falling into place. There is still mystery, but don’t we all have something unexplainable going on in our lives? Even if it is something small to something big, nothing can be fully explained.
God has been with me all my life. I’ve been a Christian for as long as I can remember. My mom taught me right from wrong and how this moral compass comes from God's Word alone.
I’ve been going to many different churches (can you blame me? I am a military brat, we move a lot!). Some are good, some okay. In one church, I learned that God doesn’t just abandon you, even if you make a terrible mistake. In the midst of confusion, He’s there. I’ll admit that there are times where it doesn’t feel like He’s here, but He is.
My favorite verse is Galatians 2:20 is: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (KJV)
It’s true, believing that God is always there isn’t easy. But remember this: He said he would always be with us even until the end of the world. So why would we have any reason to doubt Him? Is it our own pride that prevents us from seeing that God is always with us? It could be, but we must trust Him. After all, has He ever broken a promise?
Just call on Him and he will comfort you.
Matthew 11; 28-30 says: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” (KJV)
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