Karen Putz

Here are some stories and testimonials from families that I have worked with:

Three years ago, my twins, David and Maya were born.  My husband, Jerry, and I were so  happy.  They were our first children and I only had to go through one pregnancy.  Two for the price of one!!  How exciting and how scary it was.   David and Maya were born at 32 weeks.  At birth, they needed assistance with oxygen to breathe and were jaundiced.  We knew at this point that we had a long journey ahead of us.  Within their first four days of life, we received the results of their newborn hearing screening.  Both the babies passed.  This was not something that we really worried about, but it was very good news.   They did very well for the next few days.

Then on March 27, 2003, while still in the NICU, Maya’s jaundice increased and was severe enough for her to need a double exchange blood transfusion.  We thank God it saved her life.  Unfortunately, the news that came afterwaords left us distraught.  We were told that our daughter would not be able to hear (Auditory Neuropathy) and that she had a condition called Kernicterus.  We were stricken with grief and despair for some time afterwards.   I remember telling my husband while sobbing, “My little girl is never going to be able to say ‘I love you.’”  I cried myself to sleep for many nights afterwards.

The day came when we accepted it and began to cope.  We decided that there was nothing left to do but make the best of it.   We wanted to do everything possible that would allow us to communicate with Maya and even David as soon as possible.  With the help of the Early Intervention program, we were introduced to the people that would help us as parents and most importantly, Maya, along our now longer journey.  Maya needed speech, physical, occupational and developmental therapy. So needless to say, we saw many therapists for the last three years.

When Maya was sis months old, we decided that sign language would be our chosen method of communication.  One of our most important decisions, if not our most important decision, was to request a Deaf Mentor through the Early Intervention program.   Of course, it meant another appointment during the week aside from frequent doctor’s visits and therapy sessions, but we needed someone to model sign language in order ofr us to learn to communicate with our children.

We received a true blessing when Maya was six months old: Karen Putz.  She was our Deaf Mentor until the very week that Maya turned three years old.   Had it not been for our Deaf Mentor and the deaf mentoring program, our children and we would not know half of the sign language that we know today.  Our Deaf Mentor was the person we needed to have in our life so that we could understand what our daughter was capable of becoming as an adult.   She was a true example of an adult active in her community and eager to share her experiences and knowledge with families.  She is unbiased, full of information and knowledge to share with us so that we may make the best-informed decisions for Maya.

Late last year, Maya received a cochlear implant.  Karen offered as much information as she had and went as far as having a representative and friend come to our home for a question and answer session before surgery.  The deaf mentoring program and Karen have been great for our family.

Our family has been through some tough times in reference to our daughter and we have been successful at working through them in part because of the deaf mentoring program.  I would definitely recommend for any family with a child who is deaf or hard of hearing to request a Deaf Mentor through their Early Intervention program.  I cannot stress how much it has helped us.  We were able to adapt better to signing and to just understand what our daughter will experience in the future.  To Karen, our Deaf Mentor–the deaf mentoring program, you as a mentor, as a friend, and as a person, are pricelss.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Veronica, mother of David and Maya.