Our Inspired Journey

Two days before we left Southern CA, we visited Advanced Bionics...the company who manufactured Cole's cochlear implants! What a treat it was!

After sharing our story for 40 minutes with these wonderful employees, they asked us a few questions about how Cole has responded to life with his new CI's and then we were off for our tour. We walked in out out of the rooms we were allowed to enter, and peered through the windows of rooms that we couldn't. This tour gave us a deeper grasp and greater respect for the process it takes to produce one device. We learned it takes 30 days to produce one of the internal components of a cochlear implant and one day to produce the device's external components. Though the process was fascinating to learn about, our favorite moment of the tour by far, was shaking hands with three of the employees that worked on Cole's actual devices! By looking up the serial #'s on each device, they tracked whose hands had built our son's new ears. They were standing in a "clean room" when we walked up and we were allowed to enter one specific section to talk with them. Only John, Cole and I were allowed in, and again walked over the sticky ground that practically took my shoes right off my feet before shaking their hands! All of a sudden we had an incredible connection to these people we had never met before that moment. We thanked them for all of their tedious work and assured them that they had more than just a job! They had changed our family's life and most importantly given Cole the most incredible gift he'll ever receive here on earth apart from life with his creator.

After our tour, we went back into the conference room where we presented earlier and had lunch! Gabriele told us that normally they take their clients out to a restaurant, but that she thought it'd be easier with the kids to eat at the facility...I told her that I couldn't agree more! They brought in "Corner Bakery" lunches for everyone including kid's lunch boxes for the boys...AMAZING! One employee even watched Cole for us as he ran around after eating...she helped him color and play with toys that they provided for the boys during our hour lunch together. They were so prepared for our entourage...what a blessing!!!

Before we came, I had asked if we could personally thank the President and CEO, Jeff Greiner for his commitment to advancing a technology that had given our family such an incredible gift. He came to lunch that day along with members from AB's research and development team. We had a wonderful time talking with them about the devices and about possible wear-ability options for the future...especially for little ones :) After a delicious lunch, we were off to Valencia for our second presentation to the employees involved in the human resource and customer service portion of the company.
We were again greeted warmly as we presented for the second time, and we soon began to feel like we were among family. Mr. Greiner

In all, this experience has initiated a relationship with a group of people who happen to be a company...more than a business, this company feels like family to us. From the workers in the manufacturing facility to the President of the company and every employee in between, we were welcomed with open arms from the second we stepped foot on their grounds in Sylmar, CA. Aside from meeting the people who worked so hard to produce devices that are implanted under my son's skin, hearing my Dad address the employees during each presentation was a memory I'll never forget.
There were a few moments we had in sharing our story, where John or I had to stop and regain our composure so our emotions wouldn't get the best of us. One time, it was in reading my blog entry where I relived my first thoughts after hearing Cole was deaf. The second time, I got teary talking about how thankful I am that our speech therapist includes Ryder so intentionally in Cole's therapy so he doesn't feel pushed aside because of his brother's disability.

Both times that my Dad addressed each group, the employees responded tremendously. Half of the comments I received afterward were thanking me for having my Dad share...He encouraged each employee to come to work each day knowing that their "job" was much more than "just a job" to our family. The excellence in which they perform their tasks, (from sealing the implants to talking with prospective clients), will affect Cole for the rest of his life, since the advancement of cochlear implant technology means better hearing and increased opportunity for Cole in the future :) They said that they had heard this message from their President often, but hearing it from a grandparent of one of their CI kids really hit the point home in an incredible way. There were many moments when the employees wiped their eyes alongside us as they listened to us tell our story...hearing my Dad speak was one of those times.

It was a treasure to understand the CI process more, meet the people we met and form the connections we did, especially alongside my family without whom, none of it would've happened! Thank you to...Mom and Dad for keeping Cole and Cora occupied during the presentations... Ryder for sitting through it all like a "BIG" boy... and to Advanced Bionics for embracing our family like you did. Thanking "US" doesn't seem right...visiting you that day and sharing our story was a natural response for all you've given Cole and our family...here's to more visits in the future! Can you believe it...they've even invited us BACK anytime we're in CA visiting family! What a blessing it was to meet the faces of who God has used to answer our prayers...