Following life-changing surgery, brave Kara is urging others like her to listen up. Photo / Woman's Weekly
Following life-changing surgery, brave Kara is urging others like her to listen up. Photo / Woman's Weekly
After living with a significant hearing impairment for most of her life, Kara Johnson didn’t expect her own footsteps to be so loud and distracting or the sound of her baby laughing to be so sweet.
It’s all thanks to a life-changing cochlear implant that the Feilding mum no longer misses out on fully experiencing these precious moments. “Tilly was 5 months old when I had the surgery and the first time I heard her properly laugh was so special,” recalls Kara, 32.
It means all the more as she didn’t get to hear the first giggles of her two older children but now, smiling, she shares she doesn’t miss a thing, including her older children whispering and plotting together.
The mother of Connor, 11, Sofia, 8, and Tilly, 3, says her life is completely different since the implant procedure in 2020. But the most profound impact was empowering her to leave a former relationship.
“I relied a lot on my partner at the time to involve me in social situations and help with things I was missing,” she explains. “It got to the point I relied on him so much, I felt like if I left, I couldn’t do it myself.”
Kara says she couldn’t see a way out until she received the cochlear implant.
Kara after her cochlear implant surgery. Photo / Woman's Weekly
“Before, I was convinced if I didn’t make it work with that partner, I’d be alone forever,” she remembers. “Since the implant, I have a lot greater self-esteem, so I was able to see that I could do it by myself and didn’t need to rely on someone else.”
A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted electronic hearing device that stimulates nerves inside the inner ear to restore hearing for people with severe or profound deafness.
It has been the catalyst for so many wonderful things in the busy mum’s life. For the first time, she’s had a steady retail job and a new loving, stable partner.
“One of my happiest moments was when my son came back to live with me,” she says of Connor, who had lived with his father. “Combined with my job, I realised how far I’d come from where I used to be.
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“It’s a really nice feeling to now have all of my kids living under the same roof, to spend every day together, get them into their uniforms and drop them off at school.”
The tight-knit family loves hunting for painted rocks together at the local park or having DIY spa and movie nights, and Kara shares they’re closer than ever now she can hear them properly.
“My eight-year-old daughter used to get frustrated if I didn’t hear everything she said. Now there’s no frustration. We can sit and have conversations at family dinners or in the car because I don’t have to turn around to look at them all the time.”
“It’s a really nice feeling to now have all of my kids living under the same roof, to spend every day together, get them into their uniforms and drop them off at school.” Photo / Woman's Weekly
Kara was adopted at 5 years old in the UK, where she was born. She understands her hearing impairment was caused by untreated ear infections as a child in the foster-care system. At 10, she moved to New Zealand with her parents Lorna and Craig Johnson, and throughout everything, they’ve been her biggest supporters.
“Before, I couldn’t have conversations with my parents over the phone,” she shares. “I only called if it was an emergency and generally communicating wasn’t the easiest. Now they don’t panic if they get a phone call because I’m just ringing to chat.”
Bravely sharing her story with the Weekly, Kara hopes to raise awareness for Loud Shirt Day on February 24.
The initiative invites Kiwis to raise funds and dress up in their brightest outfits for the annual campaign by The Hearing House and the Southern Cochlear Implant Programme, the only two charities in Aotearoa dedicated to helping children and adults with cochlear implants learn to listen and communicate.
Kara has personally benefited from the services and support of these organisations, and recommends to anyone who is eligible to consider having an implant.
“I was worried about the surgery – what if it didn’t work or I lost my hearing completely? But I realised I don’t need to rely on anyone but myself and things will only get so much better,” she says. “My main message is to just go for it.”
