‘I’ve always been able to accomplish whatever I have to do’

WELLMAN - For 16-year-old Laela Waddell of Wellman, everything is silent from the time she goes to bed to the time she wakes up. She is unable to hear an alarm clock, knock on the door or even a siren until she turns her hearing aids on.

As she begins to plan for her future, the Mid-Prairie junior is striving for more independence. A family friend has set up a GoFundMe to begin raising money for a service dog that will alert her to the various sounds she cannot detect even with hearing aids in.

Waddell's journey began right from birth when she was born with bilateral microtia, a deformity where both the opening for the ear and the external part of the ear are not formed. Waddell's mother, Jessica Reynolds explained this affected both of Waddell's ears causing severe hearing loss.

Reynolds said during her pregnancy she knew the baby would be born with esophageal atresia, a defect that happens before birth when the esophagus does not connect with the stomach. Reynolds said her water broke 13 weeks early and after several weeks of bed rest, she gave birth to Laela five weeks early.

The baby was immediately taken to surgery, but the condition of her ears was not revealed to Reynolds until later.

'When I first held her they had a hat on her so I didn't know until my family saw her and then they said, ‘We have to tell you something,'” she recalled. 'My main focus was just getting her out (of surgery) and being ok. Her ears were never a factor or anything I was scared about.”

Because the esophageal condition was much more serious, she said her time was spent worrying about the health of the baby because she was unable to hold her for several weeks.

'Just because there were a combination of issues, the bigger issues were always put up front,” she said.

For the first few months, Waddell had to have frequent surgeries to dilate the esophagus to help her swallow. Reynolds said her daughter had so many surgeries in her first year of life they lost count.

At four-and-a-half months, Waddell was fitted for a hearing aid to address the hearing disability. Reynolds said it started with a bone anchored system, where an implant is connected to the bone behind the year to amplify the sound.

Behind Waddell's other ear was a bone conductor, which resembled a standard hearing aid. Reynolds said the two were connected via headbands she made specifically for her.

Waddell said this helped, but because her ears did not form properly there was no ear canal to insert the device into which stifled the sound.

'It was hard to hear because it was over my skin so it was muffled,” she said.

Waddell now uses hearing aids and said as she's grown up things have been hard but there is nothing she cannot overcome.

'It was really hard at the beginning but I've gotten used to it,” she said. 'I do have some challenges. It takes me longer to do some things and I have to take extra steps sometimes, but I've always been able to accomplish whatever I have to do.”

A few years ago, she was watching a TV show, 'Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye,” a show about an FBI agent who is deaf and has a service dog, when she got an idea.

'It was just really cool to see how the dog helped her within her job and day to day things. Then I started doing research about different dogs that are trained for different disabilities and I came across a couple companies throughout the United States and then we found Clicks for Canines,” she said.

Based out of Montezuma, the training center will work with Waddell for the next two years as her dog learns all the cues needed to help her, she said. The pair will train together until the dog can learn every possible sound it might need to alert Waddell of, from a kitchen timer to a phone ringing to a fire alarm.

To help offset the cost, a family friend, Pat Dessner, has set up a GoFundMe page for Waddell. Reynolds said the family is trying to raise $12,000 that will go into a trust fund of sorts for the dog.

The money will go toward the purchase of the canine, training, vet bills and any expenses Waddell might procure over the next two years of training. In addition to day-to-day tasks, the dog will need to learn to alert her if the pair are flying or if she is driving a car.

Looking forward to the future, Waddell said she is hoping to take off for the University of Iowa to study nursing after she graduates high school. The dog will be able to attend classes and work alongside her when she begins her career.

Waddell said for now, being alone makes her nervous because of what she cannot hear and what could happen that she is unaware of. Having seen the emotional toll it takes on the 16-year-old, Reynolds said she is hoping a constant companion will improve her confidence to feel more independent.

'Because she does still have a mild loss even with the hearing aid on, the dog will be beneficial for things we have gotten used to with working with each other for so long,” she said.

To donate to Waddell's fund, visit: www.gofundme.com/f/service-dog-for-laela