eternal gratitude

We will be forever grateful to the founder of the cochlear implant, Graeme Clark. This week he won the international Lister Medal, which is one of the most prestigious honors a surgeon can receive.

This man has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world with this innovative technology. If you asked me 10 years ago what the best medical invention of the twentieth century was, I would have answered the contact lens, because of my personal vision needs. Now, of course, I know without any doubt that it is the cochlear implant. Not a single day goes by that I don't marvel at Lucas's ability to hear, to understand me when I speak, and to speak for himself. Although his success is certainly not thanks to the technology alone, it would absolutely not be possible without it. 

At this summer's CHOP picnic I spoke with a Cochlear Corp rep about the annual Cochlear celebration. She mentioned that they fly Dr. Clark to the celebration every year. I hope to attend this event some year when Lucas is older, especially to meet this extraordinary man and thank him for changing Lucas's life. 

You can read the full article here. I love reading about his inspiration for inventing this technology (his father), and how he finally figured out how to physically make the implant happen (with blades of grass in a shell while at the beach). I hope you can get through it without crying, because I certainly can't.