Olympic Champion's Biggest Challenge
Jan. 7, 2006 — -- As Olympic bobsled champion Vonetta Flowers gears up for the 2006 games, she is facing a more pressing challenge: Her 3-year-old son Jorden is deaf and just underwent a risky brain operation that could allow him to hear.
"I'm confident," Flowers said before the operation. "I have mixed feelings. It's pretty emotional just because he's having brain surgery. But it's a day we've been praying for for a long time."
Jorden underwent the operation at University Hospital in Verona, Italy, where Flowers is preparing to make a bid for her second gold medal. Jorden and his twin brother, Jaden, were born four months premature. By the time Jorden was 1½, it became clear he could not hear at all.
"The doctor came into the recovery room about an hour after they were delivered," Flowers said. "She started saying that we were going to have some problems with Jorden. … His ears were underdeveloped, and there's a possibility he is going to have some hearing loss."
Jorden was born without the cochlear nerve and does not have the organ to receive sound, said Dr. Gerald Brackmann.
Recently, the Flowers family learned about an auditory brain-stem implant. In the procedure, doctors place micro electrodes in the part of the brain that controls hearing. The operation has not been approved for children in the United States.
"Without this surgery, he can't hear," said Johnny Flowers, Jorden's father. "This is his last option. There is no other choice but for him to have this."
The procedure took three hours. Doctors have not yet turned on the device. Only then will they know if the operation was successful. Then, they will gradually increase the volume. They plan to turn it on in two weeks.
"In this child, we're very happy because 20 electrodes out of 21 were able to illicit specific activity from the brain stem," said Dr. Vittorio Colletti, who operated on Jorden. "So this is good news."
"We dream about him hearing out voices and saying 'mommy' and 'daddy,' " Flowers said.
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