Meet Jasper! A NEC family story.

By Katrina Noyes

Our son Jasper was born in March of 2022, three months early, 1.5 pounds of love who is growing into a strong and joyful child.

Jasper’s early life has had many ups and downs, with more than two years spent in hospitals relying on a ventilator to help him breathe as he gets bigger.

Jasper was diagnosed with severe retinopathy of prematurity in the NICU, and when he was six months old, he failed his newborn hearing screen. Soon after, he underwent eye surgery for a detached retina.

In those days and weeks, we were terrified at the possibility of raising a child who could not see or hear. We searched online for guidance and someone to help and emailed Tracy at the New England Consortium for Deaf Blindness. “What do we do?” She responded quickly, “I’ll come visit you next week.”

It’s been nearly two years since that first visit and Tracy has been a regular presence in our lives for whom we are deeply grateful. Tracy has helped us to understand Jasper’s diagnoses with a focus on his abilities. She brings him toys to help him learn and has worked with his hospital therapists to collaborate on how to best support his development. Her constant cheerleading has been essential to us as parents to feel like we can move forward everyday. It brings us peace to know will have resources and people to support us in these early years and beyond.

We have a lot we are hopeful for., Jasper is active and happy and is constantly exploring. At this point, he has perfect hearing in one ear, and decent vision in one eye. We have plans to manage both his hearing and his vision going forward. Knowing that Tracy and the NEC community will be standing next to us on this journey and loving our son gives us confidence and a deep sense that we are not alone, and we are sure that Jasper’s life will be better because of the support we’ve received from NEC.

– Katrina, Colin, and Jasper