Being profoundly deaf has never held Rachel Fishwick back in life. In fact she doesn't call herself deaf - she just can't hear very well. But that could all be about to change as she becomes the latest patient to benefit from the team at the Yorkshire Cochlear Implant Centre in Bradford.
After undergoing an operation to bury the internal part of the implant under the skin she is now looking forward to the big switch-on' next Wednesday. "I am hoping to get normal hearing," she said. "I have missed out on telephone calls and my friends can't wait to talk to me on the phone.
"I am afraid of group conversations - if it is more than four people I do not know where to look. With the cochlear implant I will hear much more and also hear my children shouting at me!
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"I am also looking forward to employment. I want an administration job. "All the mums at my son's school say it is amazing and they cannot wait for me to be switched on. I feel confident that it is going to work and I am looking forward to next week." Rachel, who is now 40 and living in Liversedge with her two boys Conor, 11, James, seven, and husband Howard, was born deaf, a fact which was revealed at the age of two following an assessment at BRI with a spoon and cup.
"They wanted to see if she would react," said Rachel's mum Ann Heptonstall, 67, of Wyke. "Of course she could not care less."
The family concentrated on getting the best education possible for Rachel, who has relied on various hearing aids, many of which she hated, and lip reading. "As parents we did push her but it worked," said Mrs Heptonstall. "She learned how to speak and read books but without the hearing aids she could hear nothing."
In 1994 Rachel married Howard who is in the RAF and she moved all over the country, with a stay in Brussels from 2004 until last year. Her many interests include guiding and she has been a Guide leader for 20 years, most recently at the 10th Mirfield Guides. She met the Queen in 1987 to receive the Queen's Scout Award and also travelled to Malaysia with Raleigh International.
But in November last year she suffered from tinnitus.
"After having the tinnitus I was struggling with the hearing aids," she said. "I got digital hearing aids but I couldn't hear anything - it was terrible." It was suggested to Rachel a cochlear implant might be suitable. It wasn't the first time such a solution had been suggested although she had always held back as she could speak and was coping and it was difficult with the family moving around a lot. But with the family settled back in Liversedge Rachel began a journey which she hopes will lead to a life full of sound.
Her consultant referred her to the Yorkshire Cochlear Implant Service in Bradford and a first assessment was carried out in May this year. She carried on going to the unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary once a month and in August this year got a letter to say the operation could be carried out on October 18. This was a success and the next big date is next Wednesday when she is switched-on' and a hearing world could open up to her.
Rachel has been accompanied to many of the appointments by her mother as her husband has been on duty in Afghanistan but it is Howard who will be at her side on Wednesday.
To prepare, Rachel has been visiting a website where cochlear implant users can log on and share experiences.
Her children and husband have also been able to visit a cochlear implant user to understand the impact it will have on Rachel's life.
Rachel is also full of praise for the Yorkshire Cochlear Implant Service and she hopes to help the fundraising efforts by taking part in a sponsored 10km run in Manchester next year. "They are all fantastic and the unit they have is not big enough," she said.
This was taken from the local newspaper on 8th November.
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