 Luc Chauke is the latest recipient of the 94.7 Highveld Stereo and BidVest Hear for Life Trust, he underwent cochlear implant surgery on 10 June 2009.
15 month old Luc has not enjoyed an easy start to life: he was found in a field by farmer, Wayne Skews when he was only three and a half weeks old.
At the time, police believed he had been left there by his family who had to flee the xenophobic violence last year.
His fortunes changed from then on, as Wayne and Susan Joubert, who already have four children between them, decided to foster Costa, and named him Luc – short for Lucky.
In an amazing twist of fate, Susan is a speech therapist, and by the time Luc was six months old, Susan had noticed that he had problems hearing. She consulted with a Doctor, and then with various audiologists, and they learnt that he was profoundly deaf.
“We did many sophisticated hearing tests on Luc, and finally tried to fit him with a hearing aid, to see if this would have any impact,” explained Dr Hockman, who performed the cochlear implant surgery. “Although Luc is a very bright child, he had absolutely no response to the hearing aid, which made him an ideal candidate for a cochlear implant.”
“Performing this procedure as young as he is, we think there is a good chance he will learn to speak well, with speech therapy,” he added.
Luc is recovering well and Wayne and Susan are hoping to legally adopt him soon.
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