Transcription:

Kathleen Colella: You're listening to Amplified, presented by Lurie Children's. Transcripts of this and all episodes can be found at luriechildrens.org/amplified.

Up until now, Amplified has focused on our heroine's childhood. Once Katie graduated from high school into young adulthood, her whole support system was going to change because growing up with a hearing loss is very different from being grown up with a hearing loss.

You graduated from Bennett and went on to college. And why don't you tell us a little bit about your, your college years with your hearing loss?

Katie Radasevich: Sure, so like going to Bennett, I was thrilled to try something new again. Um, I went to the University of Iowa and, um, I was a double major in speech and hearing sciences. Um, and I majored in Spanish as well. Um, and so, um, but so I double majored and I also was on the women's rowing team. So we were a D1, um, team there. And, you know, I know my dad mentioned earlier that I wasn't a huge fan of the water. Younger, I still wasn't a huge fan of it then, but I think at that point I had found something that really, I loved being part of a team. I had, um, you know, played soccer. I had ran cross country and track in my formative years. And so I was so excited that I was on this rowing team and as chance would have it, there was a, another woman on my team who also had a hearing loss. And, um, you know, so she and I became fast friends. She and I are still good friends now.

And, you know, just, I think having that community of those athletes there too. Um, and again, building that level of trust with them, I think that's one thing that my hearing loss has really kind of helped me, um, is, is the relationships that I built are so focused on trust and, uh, you know, the people that I feel like I can really lean on.

I really, I really feel like I can lean on them, you know, because if something happens to a hearing aid and I'm just kind of, you know, like, okay, now I can't hear, you know, do I have this person to really help me? Um, and Brin, my teammate was such, such a supportive person for me. So yeah. So four years was kind of a blur just between practice and, um, classes.

And races, um, and studying. You know.

Kathleen Colella: Did you wear your hearing aids during races?

Katie Radasevich: I did yeah. So, so I did actually have an old set of hearing aids that they haven't made. They like discontinued them maybe 10 years ago. Um, but they were my, what I would call my water aids. Um, very analog. The sound quality was terrible, but at least was enough sound where I could hear what the coxswain, the woman who was, um, uh, at the lead of the boat was yelling at me and, um. And I had black and gold ear molds for Iowa and it was.

Kathleen Colella: Oh, that's awesome.

Katie Radasevich: Yeah, it was great. And actually the only time I didn't have my hearing aids on was, uh, a rowing trip that my, um, team did down to Florida and we were, we were practicing in a pair. So there's two of us in a boat compared to eight. And I was actually in a pair with my, um, hearing impaired teammate Brin who also did not have her hearing aids in. And so we're on the ocean and our boat flips over.

So, the two hearing impaired girls go into the ocean and our coach is yelling, screaming at us about, you know, flipping the boat over. And we're just like, we can't hear you. But, um, you know, so I do think college was awesome because I think it brought like a whole other level of my personality out. Um, and being able to kind of talk about my hearing loss, maybe in a more candid way.

Um, yeah, I feel like I grew up a lot, those four years between just the discipline of having practice and you know, what I mean, time management and all that. But I also think just those relationships again, um, they got to know me now, you know, as a different, different Katie. And I think it kind of circled back where it was really awesome that my hearing loss was kind of just more of a topic of like fun conversation rather than oh, you know, so do you feel like you're having trouble hearing? You know, there was really none of that, which I was very fortunate.

Kathleen Colella: That's wonderful.

Katie Radasevich: And at Iowa it was great because, um, because it was a big 10 school. I did have access to, you know, anything I wanted in the classroom, whether that be, you know, note takers, extra time, if I needed a sign language interpreter, which I didn't, um, you know, just, just captions. Um, there was so much available to me through the disability um, department as well, which again, I think you kind of have to get over like the quote stigma of being then walking into the disability services department, but hey, they were there to help me and you know, with my busy life, they were awesome.

Kathleen Colella: And once you cross through the front door of the disabilities office, was it rather simple to set up those services?

Katie Radasevich: Yeah, absolutely. And, um, so, uh, as part of my application to Iowa, I had, um, written down, you know, I had been accepted, but I was now applying for housing. And so I will admit that I used my hearing loss as an advantage on the application that perhaps I would land in a bigger dorm, maybe some air conditioning, we'll see what happens. Um, and I did, I did have a nice dorm, um, with some, with some air conditioning that was completely equipped with a, um, a fire alarm that had a, um, a strobe light. Um, there was a doorbell, you know, so there was a light that could go off in my room if somebody was bringing the doorbell.

Um, and I actually, my freshman year, I was paired with another girl who had a hearing loss as well. And she had, um, bilateral cochlear implants. And so her hearing loss was a bit more significant then mine. Um, and she was from a very small town in Iowa. So, you know, just very different, um, histories, but that was really cool too, for us to learn from each other.

And so, yeah, so it was, it was wonderful. The services that we had, uh, I will say, you know, like any other college dorm, the fire alarm inevitably goes off at three in the morning. And, um, you know, everybody leaves the dorm and then there's this one room where the lights are like flashing, you know? And it's our dorm room because just making sure that we know that, you know, there's something that's going on and we need to leave, but I feel like the transition to college and I felt very secure there. Um, you know, between my friends, my teammates, and then also, you know, what was provided to me while I was in those dorms.

Kathleen Colella: And then after your college years, uh, so you're already a division one, successful division one college athlete. And you didn't stop your athletics after you graduated.

Katie Radasevich: I did not. So while I was at Iowa, my head coach was a former rower, but also she, um, was a iron man triathlete. And so on the off seasons, we would do kind of some makeshift triathlons that she made up um, and I found myself kind of liking that. Um, and so I started kind of competing in some short, um, sprint triathlon races that were right in Naperville over the summer. And kind of just took off from there. And so now I have competed in a couple of half iron mans.

I do lots of sprints, a lot of Olympic distance. Um, I love them. So that's been kind of cool. And I think, um, while it's very different than the team aspect, I think it still has given me a sense of, you know, um, that, you know, sense, sense of like just pushing myself and trying to meet, you know, break down new barriers and I've really enjoyed it.

So, um, but this is really cool because I do think again, just for how apprehensive I was about the water as a kid, I've really had to learn to, you know, adjust and, and be, and embrace it. Um, especially with these longer distance races that there's, you know, several hundred people in the water at the same time. Um, and they don't know that I have a hearing loss, so I think that's, um, you know, and while I'm swimming, I don't wear anything in the water just because I just would prefer not to lose something.

And so, yeah. So I think that, um, again, just kind of trying to push myself, push the envelope a little bit. Um, and I think that, um, you know, my time at Bennett, my time at Iowa, uh, just every new adventure has kind of brought you know, okay, how do we, how do we get better? How do we, you know, um, how do we succeed in this, in this way? And I've really enjoyed doing it.

Kathleen Colella: That's incredible. And how, just for all of us non iron men and women out there, how, what are the distances of the half iron man?

Katie Radasevich: So for the half, it's exactly half of the full distance. So you swim, a mile and a quarter. And then you bike 56 miles and then you run a half marathon. So you run 13 miles. Um, so roughly takes about six, six and a half hours for me. Um, but I've always loved doing long distance races and what's great now is that with my hearing aid and now I have a cochlear implant, um, I'm able to stream, you know, music while I'm working out. Um, so it's pretty cool now how the technology has allowed, you know, what I mean has, has continued to support me in a different way. Um, you know, to continue to kind of pursue my passions,

Kathleen Colella: Even though Amplified is a success story, that doesn't mean there weren't hard moments and even harder days. Hearing aids are life-changing when they work, but they are still technology capable of breaking or worse being lost. I know there was one lost hearing aid that along the way, which is pretty good for a whole lifetime of hearing aids. The fact that only one was lost. So tell me about that.

Eileen Radasevich: Well, this was, uh, a family vacation, a summer family vacation up to a lake in further, further up into Wisconsin. And I will say just personally, it was in looking back, it was really not my favorite place to go because we were in this smaller cabin type situation and we had a pontoon boat and I'm married to somebody who loves to fish. So it was his ideal trip. And all I was doing was making sure everybody was safe and fed in a smaller space. And so everybody else had a great time. I'm just going to throw that in there. But so we were out on the pontoon boat and I'm thinking Katie was probably nine. And so that meant she also had a seven-year-old sister and a four-year-old sister.

And I am just doing the whole mom thing, concerned that everybody has a life jacket on and. And then it felt safe enough that they could get in the water. And then Katie and her sisters were so excited to jump in the water. And so it just, the next thing we know Katie had jumped in the water with her hearing aids in, and, and I was still standing on the deck of the pontoon boat.

And you could see the look in her eyes was just complete panic that she was in the water and she instinctively reached up and grabbed them out of her ears, thinking that was the right thing to do. But one fell and went to the bottom of the lake. There was no retrieving it, and it was just one of those moments like your life kind of flashing before your eyes. How much, how many more days are we here and what do we do now? And, um,

Rudy Radasevich: I put on a mask and dove down to see if I could find it in the muck and the stuff at the bottom. Yeah,

Eileen Radasevich: No, it was not happening. And of course that was the same trip that her sisters sat on her own glasses and those were, you know, not wearable. And I think, I think I lost, I was wearing, um, you know, hard lenses, contact lenses at the time and something happened with them. So we were coming home and a lot of things had happened, you know, and, and trying to make the phone call ahead to the audiologist that see if we could get ahold of a loner. And, and I think we just took that opportunity then to say, oh, well maybe it's time not to just replace that aid. Let's see what's developed, you know, since these last ones and I think we just started anew and that was great too.

Kathleen Colella: And Katie, you, you grew up in a unique time of hearing aids, transitioning from analog to digital. So you had, you had to make that switch, um, and that, that can be a hard transition. Um, yes, for kids. How was that for you?

Katie Radasevich: Oh, that was a tough transition. Um, and I don't think it was this particular set. I think it was the next one after that. Um, but yes, going from analog hearing aids, which kind of, you know, amplifies everything, you know, to some percentage rather than digital, which is now trying to amplify sounds soft sounds at a different way than it's amplifying loud sounds.

Um, uh, you know, oftentimes patients who are transitioning from analog to digital feel like digital hearing aids are just too quiet. Um, and they sound too pixelated. Um, and so that was definitely my experience. I felt like I couldn't hear anybody and everyone just did not sound good. And so I do remember, um, my audiologist just, I mean, she was so sincere in the fact that she knew this was a huge adjustment and she just let me sit there and just, you know, just balk at it for a while.

But at the end of the day, I really just needed to try it. And I remember going home and sitting down at the piano and starting to play and I just immediately broke down because it just sounded so different. Um, but I mean, the amazing thing was, is, I mean, within a week, I don't think I could have told I would have never worn my analog aids again.

Kathleen Colella: Wow. That's quickly.

Katie Radasevich: Yeah. So it was because also I was a consistent hearing aid user. I was wearing my hearing aids 12, 14 hours a day. So that gave my hearing system in my brain, 12 to 14 hours of exposure every day. Um, you know, and I think we did it over the summer if I remember correctly, which I think was also a really, just kind of cool how that worked out, um, that I didn't have to go back to school on Monday with something different.

I mean, yeah, that transition was a big transition and then another big transition was going from a more traditional behind the ear with the big ear mold, because my first set of digital aids, I was still wearing an ear mold. Um, I had ear mold until I was in high school. I didn't get, um, receiver in the ear hearing aids until I was going off to college.

So I was a BT girl with ear molds, my whole life.

Kathleen Colella: All the colors?

Katie Radasevich: Yeah. Oh yeah. We went through a lot of different colors. Um, and uh, so that was also a big change too, just going from that different configuration. Um, and so it's interesting now seeing patients who are making that transition and kind of like seeing the wheels turning in their head because I totally remember being there.

Um, but so, yeah, so I feel like in terms of the hearing aid technology world, I've seen a lot. And then now most recently to have a hearing aid that's rechargeable is just another whole thing, which is really awesome. Especially as a mom of young of a young kiddo, where now I'm not worried about if a hearing aid battery is on the floor somewhere that she's not going to pick it up and put it in her mouth. You know, I think. This is so cool for thisnext generation of kids who potentially could become parents.

Kathleen Colella: And I know you once share me, shared with me a story um, about Girl Scouts. That until you told me that I would have never thought about that challenge for a child.

Katie Radasevich: Yes. So as a girl of the nineties, I was obviously in Girl Scouts.

Kathleen Colella: Of course.

Katie Radasevich: Um, so this is when I was a brownie and, um, I was on a overnight sleep away camp. Um, and we were all sitting in a circle playing the game telephone. So for those not familiar with telephone, you, you know, someone has a sentence or a phrase or whatever, and you whisper it to the next person who then whispers it to the person next to them.

And it goes around the room. And then the final person, you know, the idea is that you're able, you know, the, the correct passage has gotten through the whole chain. And now the last person says, you know, the passage. So you can imagine as a hearing impaired kid, sitting around this circle. I am so stressed out, you know, because I can not hear what they're whispering and they don't let you, you know, ask multiple times to repeat yourself, whatever.

So I remember somebody whispered something in my ear and I just turned to the next person and said, I don't know, ask her. And then, you know, and as truth with habit, you know, by the end of the circle that last girl says, I don't know, ask her. And I just remember thinking like, okay, I'm never playing this game again, but that was a moment of, okay, well this was an uncomfortable situation and there was no way out of it.

So I just kind of had to improvise. Right. Um, but I think again, you know, stuff happens no matter what, you know what your kind of thing is. Um, and for me, the game telephone as a Girl Scout was that was it. That was my, uh, you know,

Kathleen Colella: Absolutely. Yeah, no, I love how you rolled with it though. Were you ever bullied as a child?

Katie Radasevich: Repeatedly no. Um, there was a little boy that was in one of my classes who did refer to me as deaf girl. And, you know, at the time it frustrated me, I was in third or fourth grade, something like that. But I also think that I didn't like him either. So, you know, it kind of, um, but I was never really somebody who my feelings got hurt, um, super easily.

So I think that, you know, could people have been talking behind my back, possibly. I didn't hear them. So it probably worked out, you know? Um, so that was never a huge thing. Um, I do think that because my hearing loss did make me different, that some kids just then tend to stay away from people who are different, you know? Um, but I didn't really experience repetitive bullying. And I feel very fortunate about that.

Kathleen Colella: Why don't you share with everyone what your career is now?

Katie Radasevich: Sure. So I am a Pediatric Audiologist. I work at Lurie Children's Hospital.

Kathleen Colella: That's right. Katie Radasevich Farnsworth is my colleague. Sometimes you have to search for a great story, but sometimes you get lucky and the great story shares an office with you.

Katie Radasevich: Um, I am on the diagnostic audiology team as well as the cochlear implant team, which means that I see every, any kind of patient that comes into our clinic, um, from kids who failed their newborn hearing screening to identify what their hearing loss is, um, to fitting them with hearing aids. And if hearing aids are not powerful enough for the hearing loss, then working those children up for a cochlear implant and subsequently activating their implant and, um, following them.

So it's really awesome to be able to be part of both teams for me specifically too, because I do have an implant. Um, and so to remember my journey with hearing aids and now be an implant user, um, it's, it's nice that I feel that I can, um, connect with families in a, in on a more personal level.

Kathleen Colella: When did you first know you wanted to be an audiologist?

Katie Radasevich: I was about nine, seven or nine. Um, and, uh, after I was initially diagnosed with my hearing loss, I had the same audiologist through Children's Memorial for a couple of years, and then she then transferred over to the cochlear implant team. Um, and at the time we were driving downtown for my appointments and we lived out in Naperville. So, um, it was just decided maybe we can just find someone closer to home. I was, you know, doing well. Um, and so we bounced around different clinics for a little bit, mostly for ear molds. And there was one particular audiologist where, you know, he was taking an ear mold or, you know, trying to manipulate my ear mold and just kept trying to empathize with me about my hearing loss. And you know, at this stage, at this stage of my career, I really do appreciate the effort that went into trying to connect with me, you know, um, and, and, and just make sure that I felt heard. But at the time I was very frustrated because I felt like, you know, how could this person understand what I'm talking about?

You have normal hearing. I do not. You're making an ear mold impression for me, you know, so I felt very disconnected.

Kathleen Colella: What was he, do you remember what some of the things he said to you?

Katie Radasevich: Yeah he just said, oh, I know how you feel. Um, that was a big one. I know how you feel. I know how you feel and I'm thinking you have no idea how I feel, you know, and, and even at that age, like it was just, I just remembered feeling like, no, this is not this, this wasn't like, it just wasn't the right thing to say. And I remember leaving and we were in the parking lot and I turned to my mom and I said, that's it. I'm going to be an audiologist. And from then on that was it, you know, I really never looked back. Um, and

Rudy Radasevich: No, there was no plan B.

Katie Radasevich: That was it. I was, I was going to be a pediatric audiologist. Um, and so we quickly after that did, um, meet an audiologist at Westchester Lurie Children's Westchester outpatient clinic. Um, and then I worked with her for the next 15 years. And Joy has been such an integral part of my life.

Kathleen Colella: Remember Joy Ringer, the audiologist interviewed at the end of episode one, that's the same Joy Katie is talking about today.

Katie Radasevich: I invited her to my graduation, you know, she was, you know, and, and, and I never felt that she really tried to connect with me in a way that she knew she couldn't connect with me. You know, it was, it was more about, okay, tell me about your experience. What can I do to make it better? Um, and, and that's, I think the true test of a really good audiologist too, to just for a patient to feel heard. Um, but not, you know, try to be put into a box or something like that, you know? I think that's the best that we can do for them.

Rudy Radasevich: I did want to say one thing about Katie and her career choice. As parents, and we had touched on this earlier, parents, when you find out your kid is hearing impaired, you're devastated emotionally. It's a terrifying thing because it's such an unknown. And if I was a parent to be able to walk in and see Katie as my kid's audiologist, hearing impaired with a hearing aid in one ear and a cochlear implant in the other thing and think oh, my God. There's hope. There's hope here. If she can do it, others can do it. I remember one time when Katie was doing one of the Sound Experience programs and she was a panelist in this program, and one parent was asking her about her eight or nine or 10 or 12 year old daughter, and going through all of these things and being very combative, et cetera, et cetera, and wanted to talk to Katie about it and Katie said Ma'am I think, um, your daughter's issue has a lot more with being 13 than it does with her hearing loss. And this relief just washed over this mom's face. Like thank you. Thank you. I don't have any other daughters I didn't know that. And having that perspective of having walked that walk before is a very comforting thing to a parent and to a patient as the patient gets older and could appreciate it..

Back when Katie was at, at a Rush, um, finishing her doctorate, you have to think about, okay, where am I going to do my, my final year? Uh, hoping then that one would have the ability to go work for their work there permanently. And, um, she was looking at Lurie Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Boston Children's Hospital, wonderful organizations, wonderful places. And I was pushing Boston. Katie has a cousin who's at, who's at Harvard, which is next door affiliated with the Children's Hospital of Boston. And I was really pushing Boston. And finally, Katie looked at me and said, dad, I want to do Lurie. If I get into Lurie, I'm going to Lurie. I go Boston, what about Boston? She said, dad, why wouldn't I want to go to the place that changed my life?

Kathleen Colella: Did you ever encounter someone when you told them what you wanted to be or if you were telling Katie that what you wanted to be, did you ever get like a little raised eyebrow or a oh, really? Or challenge you about this career path?

Katie Radasevich: So. Most people were like, oh, that's just the most beautiful thing. You know, Ahm just very, very supportive and, um, you know, just thought that would be wonderful. Um, I do think that it's interesting, the individuals that you meet, who are now in the academic world, if they are researchers, or if they're clinicians. Um, and so when I did my, um, graduate program, I had been accepted and I was, no, this was undergrad. It was undergrad. This was undergrad, undergrad. And, um, I was going, I had been accepted and I was going to, um, check out the campus, meet and meet some of the staff that were part of then the speech and hearing sciences department.

Um, and the, the person that I met with, um, was just very dismissive of, um, me of what my passions were. And I was, you know, just not feeling the vibe, which was actually super abnormal because I had never gotten that before, but it was the first time where I really felt like, oh, okay. Maybe some people do doubt that, you know, can I do this?

Um, but other than that, I do feel like you know, most people were very supportive.

Rudy Radasevich: In fact, this guy at one point looked at Katie and said, what do you mean you want to be an audiologist? Because most of the people in those programs do speech path, not audiology. And she's what 18 years old. And he looks at her and goes, what do you mean? You want to be an audiologist? How do you know you want to be an audiologist, do you know what that is? I'm thinking, look at her ears pal. And I did all i could not to throw him out the window. And Katie has to learn how to deal with people like this. So she handled it magnificently. And I thought how vulgar, a thing to say to a, to a young student who wants to come into your program and pay out of state tuition, right?

Eileen Radasevich: So we left that interview. And we had a formal tour of the campus scheduled afterwards and we just thought no, and got in the car and, and enjoyed our day at home rather than, uh, continuing that. And that was, uh, that was cross that off the list.

Kathleen Colella: Instead of interviewing another clinician for this episode, I wanted to share more from Katie's sisters, Abby and Julie Radasevich, where they discuss some of the challenges they have witnessed for Katie.

Julie Radasevich: We like to talk, we talk a lot so it works.

Abby Radasevich: Yeah. The loud family I learned last week, the loud family.

Julie Radasevich: I've been trying to keep it level set on this tone. So not screaming. Cause usually I scream when I have headphones on. I remember to when you would be, you know, in the bathroom and doing your hair. So you can't have your hearing aids in and it took quite a while to learn that I would go then go in and ask. And we basically, I would look at her and point to my ears and she'd either give me the no-go or the just look me and say, yeah, I have them or the no-go. And if I actually needed to ask her something, I would go and get her hearing aids, where I knew where they were, bring her to her and do this whole thing. And then as we got older, you know, we would be all in the, you know, our bathroom getting ready together and Katie would be doing her hair. And then she'd use hair spray and not want to get that on her hearing aids, so she'd take them out and hand them to one of us and we'd close our fists, use them, do her hairspray. And it was just so seamless. It was almost like, pass me the mascara. She just like holds them out. We grab them, puts them in. That's it. And it's so funny to think about that. One, I miss us all getting together in that bathroom, it was just a blast. Um, but now it's just, it's just became so seamless. And I also think too, a piece of advice, I would give to a sibling is to learn and to understand, try to understand as much as you can so that you can help them. And then it's just going to be that seamless kind of movement where you don't even think about it anymore, you know, and Katie's an incredible triathlete and it was always okay, well, grab her hearing aids and when she goes into the water and then we'll give them back and it was became part of the routine, like making sure you have enough water and do you have energy bites? And what about hearing aid batteries? It just became so seamless. Um, before she would go exercise for six hours. Yeah. Which is if there's anything weird about Katie it's that she exercises for six hours.

Abby Radasevich: I love her, but I don't get it either.

Julie Radasevich: I don't understand that at all.

Abby Radasevich: That's going on the record for sure.

Julie Radasevich: Yeah. Anything weird about her, she exercises for six to eight hours straight, which.

Abby Radasevich: Voluntarily.

Julie Radasevich: That's what it is. That's voluntarily.

Abby Radasevich: No, one's chasing.

Julie Radasevich: One of the best times though, was we were at one of the, you know, Naperville, triathlon triathlons at Centennial beach and they were putting over the loudspeaker and she's standing down there. And so she, and she doesn't have her hearing aids in which I also can't imagine being surrounded by hundreds of people and not being able to hear. So that's just an incredible feat as it is, but they announced to make sure that the tracker you know that they use to, when you cross each, you know, you get out of the pool it crosses you so you can tell your time and whatnot to make sure that it was on, let's say your right foot and they're announcing it over the loud speaker.

And everybody's looking down to make sure they're there. And Katie's just looking at the sky, looking around, has no idea what's going on and I can see her and her tracker is on her left foot. So then we're trying to do all types of makeshift signals to her. We're running down to tell her, and eventually you got it, but that was just another thing where also nobody around you noticed what was going on and you, everybody else was checking and Katie's just sitting there, do, do, do. You have to do everything when we swim in are we go in yet and then she gets up to the line and, you know, they shout them off and Katie's always, you know, like right there waiting to go but she can't hear. And I'm just thinking that that's the weird thing. You're going to exercise for six hours and do it so well, not being able to hear anything and I will stand on the sidelines and cheer you on, but

Kathleen Colella: Well it sounds like you guys have been cheering her on her whole life. You're awesome siblings.

Julie Radasevich: We love her. We do. She's pretty great.

Abby Radasevich: Yeah. She's awesome.

Julie Radasevich: And she, and she gave us Nora.

Abby Radasevich: Yeah,

Julie Radasevich: So that's pretty incredible too.

Abby Radasevich: Mostly that. Well and I think it's super cool too. Um, I just wanted to throw this in all like the, the technology advancements she has, like how she can stream her music to that and like have her phone go to that. Cause I remember, you know, obviously we didn't get cell phones until way later and she would have to like awkwardly hold it, you know, up at like the top of her here, her hearing aid to like talk and then have to adjust it to speak. And she had these headphones that would clip into the base of her hearing aids. But then if she couldn't find them, you know, it turned into a whole thing. Um, so I think it's really awesome now. You know, I think it's awesome. The captions are now mainstream. I think it's great that she can just stream her music and stream her calls and not have to worry about it. And you know, in that sort of aspect, especially with Nora, I mean, I'd love to see the day when you could somehow stream the baby monitor to that. So you could get some sleep or something, but.

Julie Radasevich: Yeah, I completely agree with you. I remember we were on a flight, a long flight, and you didn't have the clip in headphones. I don't remember where we were going, but I completely remember when that happened and it was devastating because if I forgot my headphones, I could go to any store, any Hudson News, anything and get a pair of headphones. But you can't do that for these particular ones. And now I tell everybody that when I call Katie, it just goes directly to her brain. And I don't know really how CIs work, but I try and I should know more and I would love to. But all I know is that it goes directly there. And so I tell everybody that she just hears me directly in her brain. And I think that's pretty cool.

Abby Radasevich: Yeah, she's that smart.

Julie Radasevich: So going from not being able to, you know, misplacing one set of headphones and you can't hear any music on a six hour plane ride to just where you are today is incredible. So, and I just, I think Katie should be the poster child for everything, you know, just going from having something that obviously not a whole heck of a lot of people have. And even at the time, it took several years to figure it out, which is totally different now to working with children who have similar issues. And she's also so kind, tall, beautiful, amazing. I'm like put her on every poster. That's my mentality, but I'm very proud to be your sister.

Abby Radasevich: So yes, I would agree and ditto to all of that

Kathleen Colella: I also agree and ditto to everything Abby and Julie said about Katie, reflecting on the imperfect doesn't cause resentment for the Radasevich's. Instead they find gratitude and humor easily. And of course, loudly. Thanks for listening.

Amplified, presented by Lurie Children's was created by me, Katie Colella. Music by Lesfm, artwork by Katrina Graziolo. Special thanks to Jamie Budzig, Lisa Weber, Joy Ringer, Jen Haney, Danielle Lee. And of course the Radasevich and Farnsworth families. If you need resources regarding childhood hearing loss, go to Luriechildren's.org/audiology-resources. Transcripts of all episodes are available at Luriechildren's.org/amplified.

Learn more about Katie and the incredible division of rehabilitation services on Instagram @Lurierehabservices. That's at L-U-R-I-Erehabservices.