Scarlet, an eleven-month-old baby, developed an ear infection. She was born three months prematurely and developed a stomach infection. Caroline Dianne Benjamin, her mother, had to make the decision to allow her baby to receive antibiotics. The antibiotics might cause a hearing loss. Sadly, Scarlet became deaf and suffered from Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
NEC is considered a devastating disease. It mostly affects the intestine of babies born prematurely. Bacteria invade the wall of the intestine. This results in causing local infection, as well as inflammation, which can eventually destroy the bowel wall. Although it can be life-threatening, most babies, when receiving proper treatment, make a complete recovery.
After not being able to hear for all of these months, the baby was fitted with hearing aids. They worked! She was able to hear. The first thing she did was go into uncontrollable laughter. Her older sister, Halie, repeatedly said, “Baby sister,” as she was testing to see if Scarlet could hear her. Scarlet certainly did hear her sister, and her laughter proved this.
Benjamin said everyone joined in with joyous laughter. Scarlet’s beautiful smile causes everyone around her to react with smiles and tears. First, it was her immediate family. Now it involves all of the people seeing the baby on the internet. Benjamin wrote on the Facebook Post that it was the absolute best day of their lives. She said she was crying and everyone is crying. After being placed on Facebook, it soon had 188,000 viewers.
The family was uncertain as far as how little or how much Scarlet could hear. After the hearing aid was put in place, her laughter tipped them off that their baby could hear. Benjamin wrote that hearing aids make all the difference in the world. Baby Scarlet is now joyfully absorbing and reacting to all of the new sounds she is hearing. And she keeps laughing. Benjamin said they took her outside, and Scarlet was busy listening to the different animals, and she was freaking out. The mother said she shuts the car door and Scarlet looks at her like she is asking, “Mom, did you hear that?”
The mother was very grateful and gave thanks to the Atlanta Hearing Associates. They are located in Milledgeville, Georgia. They are the people who can be thanked for Scarlet’s new ability to hear. Benjamin said she hopes the video will remind everyone not to take the gift of hearing for granted.
