Brant’s Story When Brant was born it never occurred to me that he wouldn't be able to hear.  I just wanted to make sure he had 10 fingers and 10 toes.  He referred on his newborn hearing screening three times, and we were sent to an audiologist.  Luckily, the audiologist had just learned about Auditory Neuropathy and recognized that's what Brant probably had.  Within a few weeks of his birth, Brant was diagnosed with AN by Dr. Charles Berlin.  We were told that Brant's ears worked, but sound was not getting to his brain.  Dr. Berlin advised against hearing aids, as they would only amplify static that he was probably hearing.  It took my husband and I almost a year to decide whether or not we wanted Brant to have a Cochlear Implant. However, when we did make the decision, we gave it 110%.  We spent months negotiating with Brant's insurance company to no avail.  When he was 18 months old, we took Brant to Mississippi's only children's hospital.  The Cochlear Impant team was awesome:  we had a surgery date within a few weeks.  My husband and I packed up and moved 200 miles north for Brant to go to an oral school- to learn to listen, to talk, and then to talk well.  Brant was finally implanted in June 2003 and activated July 11th.  Because of his implant, Brant was chosen to represent Mississippi in the Children's Miracle Network Champions Across America in 2005.  After 3 years at Magnolia Speech School and more hard work than I ever could have imagined, Brant is now a normally speaking, academically above average, five year old in a mainstream kindergarten class.  We still have a way to go with a few speech errors, but I never could have imagined the possibilities.  I hate to admit it, but when Magnolia told us they would teach Brant to talk, I thought they were crazy.  A license plate I once saw says it all:  "There are no limits for deaf children." Brandy Jones, Saucier, MS Son has CI