29 year-old, deaf since birth, will hear for the first time
A man who's been totally deaf since birth has had a cochlear implant (CI) at Crosshouse Hospital in Ayrshire.
Mark Ramsay from Dalry, Scotland, has been told by doctors that the operation was a complete success, but he'll have to wait a month before medics can activate the implant.
Mr Ramsay, 29, is currently convalescing at home in London with his fiancée Charlotte Redden.
His older brother Robert, who accompanied him to the hospital, said: "He totally sailed through the operation and that's the hard part over now. It was a complete success and now he just has to wait to go back, when they will nudge up the volume bit by bit and he will be able to hear.
"He's playing it all down at the minute because his fiancée is deaf and he doesn't want to go on about it too much, but I know he's absolutely delighted inside."
Doctors at Crosshouse Hospital will gradually increase the volume to the implant over the course of the next year as even the quietest sounds may be alarming to a person who has never heard before. They will commence with level one testing when Mark returns to the hospital in December and this volume setting should allow him to hear the human voice for the first time.
Mark, who is a big fan of Liverpool Football Club received a special gift package at the hospital sent by club captain Steven Gerrard which included shirts, scarves, autographs and souvenir programmes.
The England player sent the parcel after Robert contacted the club to arrange the special surprise. Mark was delighted to receive the best wishes of the Liverpool captain.
Robert said: "When we arrived he was more interested in that than he was the operation. He's always wanted to hear You'll Never Walk Alone, the Liverpool anthem, and within a month he'll know what it sounds like."
