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ROCK HILL | Sudden silence: Virus leaves Rock Hill High grad deaf | The Herald - Rock Hill, SC
When an elusive virus assailed Brooke Summerlin's body for several days, leaving her bed-ridden and violently ill, she never thought her condition could worsen.
"I kind of felt like I was dying," said the 21-year-old Rock Hill High School graduate, who was on her way to becoming a surgical technician when she fell ill in January.
"I couldn't stop shaking," she said. "I was out of it."
Then, amid bouts of fever and vomiting, blurred vision and lack of balance, all the brightness of Brooke Summerlin's future flickered.
The virus, still unidentified by doctors, took something away from her she'd never lived without.
Her hearing.
Brooke fell ill at the height of flu season, so the flu was a likely culprit, said Melinda Summerlin, Brooke's mother.
When a flu test came back negative, doctors said it was likely a virus and sent her home. The next day, Brooke suddenly lost her hearing.
At first she thought maybe her ears were clogged with fluid, but an MRI scan revealed no fluid and no infection in her ears, only inflammation in her inner ear, said Brooke's mother Melinda Summerlin.
A spinal tap and blood tests were also inconclusive, and steroids didn't help, Melinda said.
Two weeks after she lost her hearing, Brooke went to see a specialist.
Brooke's hearing loss was "mysterious" and "incredibly uncommon," said her ear doctor, William Roberts, who practices in Charlotte.
"In the 20 years I've been practicing, I've never seen anyone lose their hearing in both ears simultaneously," Williams said.
The damage to her cochlea, the auditory part of the inner ear that transmits sound along a nerve to the brain, appears to be permanent.
It may have been caused by the virus itself, or antibodies fighting the virus and damaging her inner ear with it, Roberts said.
Most of Roberts' patients lose their hearing because they grow old, or lose it in one ear, never both simultaneously, he said.
Sudden silence
Brooke has been spending a lot of time at her home in Catawba.
She can't hear anything at all, not even the tiniest decibel of her own voice. Being completely deaf for over half a year now has impaired her speech; she talks more slowly, with a slightly slurred Southern drawl.
She's learned to pick up on vibrations, doors closing, heavy footsteps, even her own words vibrating in her chest.
Hanging out with friends and her boyfriend has been a challenge.
"It's hard to have conversations with people," she said. "It's hard to go 20 years of your life just fine and all of a sudden hear nothing."
Brooke has learned to read lips fairly well if the speaker talks slowly and repeats words. She texts on her cellphone, now a vital means of communication instead of a 20-something's preoccupation.
An avid music lover, Brooke hasn't heard any since she fell ill.
"It's been very frustrating," she said, fighting back tears.
A part of her ear that controls balance was also damaged, though Brooke's balance is coming back to her.
But with her hearing, Brooke lost more important things.
A life on hold
Brooke's hearing, balance and vision problems, and her inability to drive forced her to drop her classes at York Technical College, where she was a promising student studying to be a surgical technician.
Brooke was a "fabulous" and "diligent" student, said her instructor, Sandra Farley.
Brooke was learning to set up surgical tools, creating a sterile environment where the surgeon works. And she was good at it, said Farley, who chairs the surgical technology department.
"We call it having good hands," Farley said.
In addition to having good hands, a good tech will have a command of anatomy and with it be able to anticipate the surgeon's every move, even assisting in surgeries.
Seeing Brooke struggle has been hard on Farley.
"It's been very difficult knowing how it has impacted her life," Farley said.
"We all set goals for ourselves, and she was so young and vibrant and energetic and on track to reach her goals. To see her hindered has been hard for me because she would have made an excellent surgical technologist."
When an elusive virus assailed Brooke Summerlin's body for several days, leaving her bed-ridden and violently ill, she never thought her condition could worsen.
"I kind of felt like I was dying," said the 21-year-old Rock Hill High School graduate, who was on her way to becoming a surgical technician when she fell ill in January.
"I couldn't stop shaking," she said. "I was out of it."
Then, amid bouts of fever and vomiting, blurred vision and lack of balance, all the brightness of Brooke Summerlin's future flickered.
The virus, still unidentified by doctors, took something away from her she'd never lived without.
Her hearing.
Brooke fell ill at the height of flu season, so the flu was a likely culprit, said Melinda Summerlin, Brooke's mother.
When a flu test came back negative, doctors said it was likely a virus and sent her home. The next day, Brooke suddenly lost her hearing.
At first she thought maybe her ears were clogged with fluid, but an MRI scan revealed no fluid and no infection in her ears, only inflammation in her inner ear, said Brooke's mother Melinda Summerlin.
A spinal tap and blood tests were also inconclusive, and steroids didn't help, Melinda said.
Two weeks after she lost her hearing, Brooke went to see a specialist.
Brooke's hearing loss was "mysterious" and "incredibly uncommon," said her ear doctor, William Roberts, who practices in Charlotte.
"In the 20 years I've been practicing, I've never seen anyone lose their hearing in both ears simultaneously," Williams said.
The damage to her cochlea, the auditory part of the inner ear that transmits sound along a nerve to the brain, appears to be permanent.
It may have been caused by the virus itself, or antibodies fighting the virus and damaging her inner ear with it, Roberts said.
Most of Roberts' patients lose their hearing because they grow old, or lose it in one ear, never both simultaneously, he said.
Sudden silence
Brooke has been spending a lot of time at her home in Catawba.
She can't hear anything at all, not even the tiniest decibel of her own voice. Being completely deaf for over half a year now has impaired her speech; she talks more slowly, with a slightly slurred Southern drawl.
She's learned to pick up on vibrations, doors closing, heavy footsteps, even her own words vibrating in her chest.
Hanging out with friends and her boyfriend has been a challenge.
"It's hard to have conversations with people," she said. "It's hard to go 20 years of your life just fine and all of a sudden hear nothing."
Brooke has learned to read lips fairly well if the speaker talks slowly and repeats words. She texts on her cellphone, now a vital means of communication instead of a 20-something's preoccupation.
An avid music lover, Brooke hasn't heard any since she fell ill.
"It's been very frustrating," she said, fighting back tears.
A part of her ear that controls balance was also damaged, though Brooke's balance is coming back to her.
But with her hearing, Brooke lost more important things.
A life on hold
Brooke's hearing, balance and vision problems, and her inability to drive forced her to drop her classes at York Technical College, where she was a promising student studying to be a surgical technician.
Brooke was a "fabulous" and "diligent" student, said her instructor, Sandra Farley.
Brooke was learning to set up surgical tools, creating a sterile environment where the surgeon works. And she was good at it, said Farley, who chairs the surgical technology department.
"We call it having good hands," Farley said.
In addition to having good hands, a good tech will have a command of anatomy and with it be able to anticipate the surgeon's every move, even assisting in surgeries.
Seeing Brooke struggle has been hard on Farley.
"It's been very difficult knowing how it has impacted her life," Farley said.
"We all set goals for ourselves, and she was so young and vibrant and energetic and on track to reach her goals. To see her hindered has been hard for me because she would have made an excellent surgical technologist."