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‘From Silence to Sound’ documentary profiles Oklahoma cochlear implant patient | NewsOK.com
For young Justin Garrett, a game of dodge ball or a bike ride to the mall became quiet acts of courage.
As a deaf child with hearing aids, he learned to develop that grit on the streets and at school in Tulsa in the 1980s and ’90s.
He raced away on his old, gray bicycle for a trip to a nearby Tulsa mall one day when he was 13.
He wasn’t far away when he swerved to miss a pothole. A car crashed into him, hurling him and the crumpled bike head over heels. But his scratches and bruises from the wreck were far less painful than the schoolyard dodge ball.
He stood miserably while the team captains chose which kids they wanted on their teams.
“I was always the last one picked. I wanted to run away,” Garrett said.
And all too often, he got bullied. Kids taunted him and called him names, which he always “heard” through his ability to read lips. And the adults weren’t much kinder; he was once sent to the principal’s office for using sign language.
But the boy with the hearing aids soldiered on, his small feats of bravery in his silent world mounting up through the years.
No one — least of all Garrett — knew the sometimes unimaginable adversity would pay off one day. Garrett was destined for one history-making act of courage.
Bionic ears
At age 27, Garrett made the decision to undergo surgery that would give him either bionic ears or permanent deafness.
Garrett, now 32, chose to become Oklahoma’s first double cochlear implant recipient on March 13, 2006, at Integris Baptist Medical Center.
Only about 60,000 Americans have these electronic devices that include one portion surgically implanted under the skin and another portion placed behind the ear.
The risks are significant.
“Once they’ve done an implant on an ear and they turn on the implant and it doesn’t work, you’re completely deaf in that ear for the rest of your life. You can’t wear hearing aids or anything,” said his wife, Davina, 34.
Garrett said he had butterflies the day of the surgery, but wanted to proceed because he had only about 2 percent of normal hearing. And, though he was first tested at age 2, after his grandmother got no reaction when she banged pots together behind the child, doctors said he’d been deaf since birth.
Stardom ahead
Ten days before the surgery, Davina’s cousin, Chase Matthews heard about Garrett’s decision.
Matthews, who had grown up in Owasso and moved to Los Angeles to become a film director, was amazed that technology would offer hearing to a beloved relative who had been deaf his entire life.
He mentioned the story to Los Angeles film producer Jenine Mayring, who felt a special passion for the story as a former American Sign Language interpreter and instructor.
They decided Garrett’s story would make a compelling documentary. Then Matthews approached his friend and producing partner Jack Polachek, who became executive producer and worked to help put together financing, a film crew, travel arrangements and shooting schedule.
“The next thing I knew we were on a plane to Oklahoma,” Mayring said.
The crew returned frequently to Oklahoma and the Garretts’ Owasso home. They documented the family’s nervous days before the surgery, the surgery and the aftermath.
After the surgery, the implant site must heal for about a month before the patient learns whether the surgery was a success. Mayring said the most miraculous moment happened when the audiologist checked the implants the first time.
“You were just on the edge of your seat,” she said. “Is this going to be the best day of his life or is this going to be the worst day of his life?”
It turned out to be one of the best days of Garrett’s life, though it was also confusing.
“To be honest, the first time I heard a sound, I didn’t know what to think. I hadn’t heard a sound before,” he said.
Through speech therapy and his wife’s help, Garrett was able to gradually understand sounds and establish a more normal speech pattern.
“It’s like you’re a baby and you’re taking baby steps,” he said.
He said being able to hear has made him a better husband and father to their 3-year-old daughter, Olivia, adopted from Kazakhstan. He taught her to sign before she could talk and now they also share the joy of spoken conversation.
“I love my cochlear implant. It made a big impact on my life. It made me be more reliable. Growing up, I had to rely on everybody to help me with communication, to help me make some sense of what was going on,” he said.
“That cochlear implant made me feel more like a grown man.”
He said everything is going well at home and at work at the large retail warehouse, where he’s been named employee of the month.
Now he can order a meal at a drive-thru restaurant, easily talk on the phone and hear chirping birds and crickets.
The documentary has done well, too. “From Silence to Sound,” has won numerous film awards and is now poised to become a TV movie someday.
Garrett said he hopes the documentary provides a bit of courage to those in the deaf community.
“It’s a life lesson. I hope it will help them turn their lives around,” Garrett said. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel.”
For young Justin Garrett, a game of dodge ball or a bike ride to the mall became quiet acts of courage.
As a deaf child with hearing aids, he learned to develop that grit on the streets and at school in Tulsa in the 1980s and ’90s.
He raced away on his old, gray bicycle for a trip to a nearby Tulsa mall one day when he was 13.
He wasn’t far away when he swerved to miss a pothole. A car crashed into him, hurling him and the crumpled bike head over heels. But his scratches and bruises from the wreck were far less painful than the schoolyard dodge ball.
He stood miserably while the team captains chose which kids they wanted on their teams.
“I was always the last one picked. I wanted to run away,” Garrett said.
And all too often, he got bullied. Kids taunted him and called him names, which he always “heard” through his ability to read lips. And the adults weren’t much kinder; he was once sent to the principal’s office for using sign language.
But the boy with the hearing aids soldiered on, his small feats of bravery in his silent world mounting up through the years.
No one — least of all Garrett — knew the sometimes unimaginable adversity would pay off one day. Garrett was destined for one history-making act of courage.
Bionic ears
At age 27, Garrett made the decision to undergo surgery that would give him either bionic ears or permanent deafness.
Garrett, now 32, chose to become Oklahoma’s first double cochlear implant recipient on March 13, 2006, at Integris Baptist Medical Center.
Only about 60,000 Americans have these electronic devices that include one portion surgically implanted under the skin and another portion placed behind the ear.
The risks are significant.
“Once they’ve done an implant on an ear and they turn on the implant and it doesn’t work, you’re completely deaf in that ear for the rest of your life. You can’t wear hearing aids or anything,” said his wife, Davina, 34.
Garrett said he had butterflies the day of the surgery, but wanted to proceed because he had only about 2 percent of normal hearing. And, though he was first tested at age 2, after his grandmother got no reaction when she banged pots together behind the child, doctors said he’d been deaf since birth.
Stardom ahead
Ten days before the surgery, Davina’s cousin, Chase Matthews heard about Garrett’s decision.
Matthews, who had grown up in Owasso and moved to Los Angeles to become a film director, was amazed that technology would offer hearing to a beloved relative who had been deaf his entire life.
He mentioned the story to Los Angeles film producer Jenine Mayring, who felt a special passion for the story as a former American Sign Language interpreter and instructor.
They decided Garrett’s story would make a compelling documentary. Then Matthews approached his friend and producing partner Jack Polachek, who became executive producer and worked to help put together financing, a film crew, travel arrangements and shooting schedule.
“The next thing I knew we were on a plane to Oklahoma,” Mayring said.
The crew returned frequently to Oklahoma and the Garretts’ Owasso home. They documented the family’s nervous days before the surgery, the surgery and the aftermath.
After the surgery, the implant site must heal for about a month before the patient learns whether the surgery was a success. Mayring said the most miraculous moment happened when the audiologist checked the implants the first time.
“You were just on the edge of your seat,” she said. “Is this going to be the best day of his life or is this going to be the worst day of his life?”
It turned out to be one of the best days of Garrett’s life, though it was also confusing.
“To be honest, the first time I heard a sound, I didn’t know what to think. I hadn’t heard a sound before,” he said.
Through speech therapy and his wife’s help, Garrett was able to gradually understand sounds and establish a more normal speech pattern.
“It’s like you’re a baby and you’re taking baby steps,” he said.
He said being able to hear has made him a better husband and father to their 3-year-old daughter, Olivia, adopted from Kazakhstan. He taught her to sign before she could talk and now they also share the joy of spoken conversation.
“I love my cochlear implant. It made a big impact on my life. It made me be more reliable. Growing up, I had to rely on everybody to help me with communication, to help me make some sense of what was going on,” he said.
“That cochlear implant made me feel more like a grown man.”
He said everything is going well at home and at work at the large retail warehouse, where he’s been named employee of the month.
Now he can order a meal at a drive-thru restaurant, easily talk on the phone and hear chirping birds and crickets.
The documentary has done well, too. “From Silence to Sound,” has won numerous film awards and is now poised to become a TV movie someday.
Garrett said he hopes the documentary provides a bit of courage to those in the deaf community.
“It’s a life lesson. I hope it will help them turn their lives around,” Garrett said. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel.”