Thank you for visiting our family's Walk for Talk fundraising page!

Two and a half years ago when our daughter, Claire, was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at birth, we wondered what her life would be like.  Would she make friends?  Would she be able to speak?  Would she ever hear us sing or read to her?

Flash forward to today and there is no stopping Claire!  She is a vibrant, spirited little girl who does everything her normal-hearing peers do:  swim, dance, tumble, sing.  She loves to talk about princesses, Dora, candy, our neighbor's cat, her friends, and her teachers at school who have worked so hard to get her to where she is today (thank you, Robyn, Susan, and Sara!).  Claire even has assumed a professorial role of late as she has been very busy teaching her little sister to speak!

It has been tremendously rewarding to watch Claire progress from a baby who could hear only dogs barking and her Dad if he yelled very, very loudly to a little girl who now makes it difficult for anyone at home to get a word into the conversation.  "Don't talk to Daddy.  Talk to me!" is a common refrain at the dinner table these days.

Claire's progress would not have been possible without the cochlear implant surgery she had nearly two years ago and the wonderful support and encouragement she has received from the teachers and staff of her new school, Northern Voices, here in Minnesota.  Claire's teachers work tirelessly with her for three-hour sessions three times a week in order to prepare her for life in the mainstream.  They are truly angels to our family and their contributions to the lives of children like Claire are invaluable.

We will be walking in the Walk for Talk on May 5th on behalf of Claire and to raise funds for her school.  We hope that you'll consider making a donation!

"The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex, if not more important, than those of blindness. Deafness is a much worse misfortune. For it means the loss of the most vital stimulus -- the sound of the voice that brings language, sets thoughts astir, and keeps us in the intellectual company of man." - Helen Keller