Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Rochelle Drummer Battles Through Hearing Loss - MyStateLine.com
Taking a sick child to the hospital is one of the scariest moments a parent can have.
It might be even worse when the doctors say a disease has scarred their child forever.
But one Rochelle high schooler has beaten some terrible odds.
It's bass drummer Jacob Baker's job to blend into formation. He keeps in line, stays in step, plays the music right. It's his attitude that stands out.
"Marching and marching for God too, so I can show everybody, and the doctors that I can do all things through Christ."
Jacob has a Cochlear Implant. Without it he'd be deaf. He wasn't born that way. This picture shows Jacob right before his world changed.
"I thought we were going to lose him completely, in fact they thought pretty much that same thing."
At eighteen months old Jacob caught spinal meningitis. He was flown to Rockford Memorial Hospital. Doctors eventually put Jacob into a coma. He lived, but the disease ravaged his body and took his hearing."
"It was just like having an infant, really like a newborn baby again."
"They said I was going to be a vegetable."
He wasn't. He recovered and eventually went to the state's school for the deaf. And that was where his parents decided to get him that Cochlear Implant.
"He was actually playing a drum the day they turned him on and he was sitting on my mom's lap and they turned him on and he just drops the sticks."
This picture shows Jacob after the surgery. It's not perfect but
"Everything he does amazes me."
In fifth grade, Jacob wanted to join the band. Liked the trumpet, but the director said no. So his Dad came up with another option.
"I wanted him to play the drums, I figured if there was any instrument he'd be able to play it would be the drums."
The director hesitated but agreed.
"He wasn't sure at the beginning, he didn't want me to play, but as I continued to play he was very proud and he was shocked."
"Every time I see him out there on the field, in marching band, I'm like are you serious, how many deaf kids play in the drumline?"
"It was really tough on both of us and it's been a long journey."
And Jacob has no intention of slowing down. He wants to be a preacher or an accountant after college. But first things first.
"I want to be part of the drum major too."
Tryouts are next season.
Taking a sick child to the hospital is one of the scariest moments a parent can have.
It might be even worse when the doctors say a disease has scarred their child forever.
But one Rochelle high schooler has beaten some terrible odds.
It's bass drummer Jacob Baker's job to blend into formation. He keeps in line, stays in step, plays the music right. It's his attitude that stands out.
"Marching and marching for God too, so I can show everybody, and the doctors that I can do all things through Christ."
Jacob has a Cochlear Implant. Without it he'd be deaf. He wasn't born that way. This picture shows Jacob right before his world changed.
"I thought we were going to lose him completely, in fact they thought pretty much that same thing."
At eighteen months old Jacob caught spinal meningitis. He was flown to Rockford Memorial Hospital. Doctors eventually put Jacob into a coma. He lived, but the disease ravaged his body and took his hearing."
"It was just like having an infant, really like a newborn baby again."
"They said I was going to be a vegetable."
He wasn't. He recovered and eventually went to the state's school for the deaf. And that was where his parents decided to get him that Cochlear Implant.
"He was actually playing a drum the day they turned him on and he was sitting on my mom's lap and they turned him on and he just drops the sticks."
This picture shows Jacob after the surgery. It's not perfect but
"Everything he does amazes me."
In fifth grade, Jacob wanted to join the band. Liked the trumpet, but the director said no. So his Dad came up with another option.
"I wanted him to play the drums, I figured if there was any instrument he'd be able to play it would be the drums."
The director hesitated but agreed.
"He wasn't sure at the beginning, he didn't want me to play, but as I continued to play he was very proud and he was shocked."
"Every time I see him out there on the field, in marching band, I'm like are you serious, how many deaf kids play in the drumline?"
"It was really tough on both of us and it's been a long journey."
And Jacob has no intention of slowing down. He wants to be a preacher or an accountant after college. But first things first.
"I want to be part of the drum major too."
Tryouts are next season.