It was in fact a high-profile media personality who first put Hear and Say on the radar for Zoe’s family over 20 years ago, seeking support for Zoe’s profound hearing loss.
“I believe it was through rugby league legend, Wally Lewis that my parents found out about Hear and Say, as we learnt that Wally’s daughter, Jamie-Lee was also profoundly deaf in both ears.”
Zoe said she had memories of attending the official opening of the Hear and Say Gold Coast Centre in 2005, and recalled the exciting feeling of it being a “great milestone for everyone, including families”.
Having received her first cochlear implant in her right ear at around two years of age, it was in June 2020 that Zoe received left-sided implant. In addition to the audiology appointments that Zoe had been coming to twice-yearly for most of her life, she also then began fortnightly specialised speech therapy known as auditory learning.
