Home | My Testimony

MY NAME IS MARYN HARVEY. I'M 19 YEARS OLD AND I AM FROM NICHOLASVILLE, KY .

Here is my story:

I have severe hearing loss.

My disability was discovered when I started kindergarten. My parents began picking up on habits that were unusual for me: I would turn their face towards me when they spoke to me, I came home from school extremely fatigued, and I sang songs that I had learned in class but with sound-alike words that made absolutely no sense.

After talking to my teacher, it was decided that I should get a hearing screening. I was diagnosed with otosclerosis.

Otosclerosis is an inherited disorder that causes hearing loss due to the ear’s inability to amplify sound.

Moving forward, my best option was hearing aids. Of course, at 5 years old, this was the coolest thing ever.

It wasn't until I started middle school that I started to become very self-conscious about my hearing aids and my disability.

My parents noticed this and after many long and hard conversations, I decided I wanted to talk to a surgeon to discuss some more permanent solutions.

After being told I could have surgery, it was kinda scary. because of this fear, I decided to wait until I felt I was ready. Two years later, I decided I was.

I felt if I had this corrective surgery, I would finally be "normal" and all my insecurities would be gone.

After my first surgery, things were great, but only for a few weeks.

During a post-surgery appointment with my surgeon, he noticed that my ear drum was sagging significantly. He then decided that it would be wise to go in and do a simple surgery to lift up my ear drum.

What was supposed to be a simple surgery turned into a three-hour surgery. My surgeon discovered a cholesteatoma in my inner ear.

A cholesteatoma is a formation of abnormal skin cells forming a cyst.

This cyst destroyed everything that was done in my previous surgery and much more.

There was no fix and my hearing was now far worse than it was before. After my family and I heard the news, we were heartbroken. It felt like my world was crashing down and my body had betrayed me.

Back to hearing aids, I went.

I was fitted for new hearing aids as my previous ones no longer supported my level of hearing loss.

In hopes of making my hearing aids more discrete, I moved on from my pink and purple ones to neutral.

It was a struggle to find a hearing aid that was small enough to not be noticed but strong enough to support my hearing loss. After lots of hard work from my audiologist, the perfect hearing aid was custom-made just for me.

Then, after numerous audiology appointments, we found out my left ear (not the one I had surgeries on), had improved significantly on its own. This was miraculous and a huge blessing because it makes day-to-day things much easier for me now.

Looking back on everything, I have learned so many valuable lessons and would never be the person I am today without these hardships.

Being “normal” is impossible for everyone, not just for me; and in all honestly, being normal is boring.

I have grown to accept and love myself for who I am. I am proud of my hearing aid. It makes me unique and has allowed me to share my story with the world. It is now my hope that with my story, I inspire other people like me and help them realize they are not alone.

Even if I only help one little girl learn to love herself for all that she is, then my job here is done.

Finally, I want to give a big thanks to everyone who was involved in my life when I was going through difficult times involving my disability.

I would like to thank:

My family and friends who have stood by me in all the hard times and supported me throughout my life.
Dr. Julia Amann, my audiologist at Hearing & Speech Center for all of her hard work. She poured her heart and soul into finding a hearing aid that not only worked for me but I also felt comfortable in.
Dr. Matthew Bush at Kentucky Children’s Hospital for always making my family and I feel safe in his operating room and caring for me as if I were his own.

I love you all and I couldn’t have done this without you.

TO ALL THE LITTLE GIRLS OUT THERE:

You make the world a better place. I hope you know that you are loved and you are worthy of all things. You are going to grow up and do great things, I just know it. Don’t let others define you. You and only you, get to decide who you are and just because you may have something that makes you “different,” it does not define you. Hold your chin up high and embrace who you are because you have a gift that no one else has.