Help children with Hearing Loss

Maddie Makenna Garvue is the reason I am raising money for Heuser Hearing & Language Academy.

Maddie’s story began in 2002, when she entered the world deaf and blind. As her mom, I had so many questions about what her future would look like. How would she communicate? How would she learn? How would she tell me what she wanted, what she needed, what she loved, or who she was?

Then we found Heuser.

People often think of Heuser Hearing & Language Academy as a school for children with hearing loss. And it is. But to our family, it was so much more.

Heuser became Maddie’s happy place.

It was a place where no one looked at Maddie and saw limitations. They saw possibility.

After receiving a cochlear implant, Maddie had access to sound, but access to sound is only the beginning. Her teachers at Heuser helped her make sense of that sound. They taught her language. They taught her vocabulary. They helped her understand the world around her and, just as importantly, gave her the tools to tell the world about herself.

They taught her to communicate.

They taught her to advocate for herself.

They taught her how to be a student and a friend.

But perhaps the greatest gift they gave Maddie was the opportunity to become the very best version of herself.

And in doing that, they gave our family an extraordinary gift, too.

Because of Heuser, I truly knew my daughter.

I knew her personality. Her sense of humor. Her likes and dislikes. Her opinions, and believe me, Maddie had opinions. I knew what made her happy and what frustrated her. I knew the people she loved and the things that mattered to her.

Communication gave Maddie a voice, but it also gave us a relationship.

That is something I will never be able to put a price on.

Heuser doesn't simply educate children with hearing loss. It surrounds them with teachers, audiologists, therapists, families, and friends who believe fiercely in what each child can do. It is a community that comes together around a child and says, “We see you. We believe in you. And we are going to help the rest of the world know you, too.”

Maddie was one of those children.

To become the very best version of themselves.

Maddie will always be my reason.

On Give for Good Day, I hope you'll help me make sure there are many more stories like hers. Thursday, I am asking you to give in her honor, and for every child who will walk through Heuser's doors after her.

Give for the parent wondering whether their child will ever be able to tell them what they are thinking.

Give for the child learning their first words, signs or ways to communicate.

Give for the friendships that haven't been made yet, the voices that haven't been discovered yet, and the families who don't yet know how much their lives are about to change.

Give so that every child has the opportunity Maddie had: to communicate, to belong, and to be known.