Ryan’s Dream - The Miracle of Hearing.
Le rêve de Ryan - le miracle de l'audition.
		Published in Woman’s World Magazine Nov. 5, 2002 Ryan gets his Cochlear Implant by: Deanna Pease
The wonderful people that made it happen,
Advanced Bionics
Fletcher Allen Health Care
Cost for Cochlear Implant in Burlington, Vermont $43,100.00 U.S. = $68,960.00 Canadian						The Sound of Silence by:Simon and Garfunkel press play to hear Lyrics Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again, Because a vision softly creeping, Left its seeds while I was sleeping, And the vision that was planted in my brain, Still remains Within the sound of silence. In restless dreams I walked alone Narrow streets of cobblestone, 'Neath the halo of a street lamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light That split the night And touched the sound of silence. And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more. People talking without speaking, People hearing without listening, People writing songs that voices never share And no one dared Disturb the sound of silence. "Fools" said I, "You do not know Silence like a cancer grows. Hear my words that I might teach you, Take my arms that I might reach you." But my words like silent raindrops fell,   And echoed In the wells of silence. And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made. And the sign flashed out its warning, In the words that is was forming. And the signs said, the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls And tenement halls. And whisper'd in the sounds of silence.
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Ryan had his Cochlear Implant surgery on Monday March 5, 2001 Pictures from Vermont
Ryan will have his Cochlear Implant activated on Monday April 2, 2001 Pictures from Ryan’s Activation in Vermont
News Paper Articles
Burlington Free Press – April 21, 2002 Quebec boy makes progress after implant
Chomedey News – February 9, 2002 Duchoeny willing to fight RAMQ all the way to the Supreme Court
Burlington Free Press – April 3, 2001 Hearing world opens for Canadian Boy
	Live Interviews
Chomedey News – March 10, 2001 Ryan gets his implant in Vermont	Interview on TVA (French) Sept. 26, 2003
	Interview on Global TV Sept. 26, 2003
Burlington Free Press – March 6, 2001 Deaf boy's ear surgery a success	Interview on TVA (French) Feb. 6, 2003
	TVA Un an plus tard-One Year Later Mar. 4, 2002
Burlington Free Press – March 5, 2001 A Quebec boy's quest to hear	Interview on TQS (French) Jan. 28, 2002
	Interview on Global TV Jan. 25, 2002
Canadian Jewish News – Feb. 8, 2001 Deaf boy to finally get Cochlear Implant	TVA (French) Report 1 Nov. 13
	TVA (French) Report 2 Nov. 13
Montreal Gazette – Jan. 25, 2001 A southern solution Frustrated father Taking son to U.S. for Cochlear-Implant surgery	Interview on TQS (French) May 24, 2001
	Interview on CTV Pulse News April 26, 2001
	Interview on CTV Pulse News April 2, 2001
Montreal Suburban – Jan. 17, 2001 Hearing-impaired youth counting on PQ race	Interview on TQS (French) April 2, 2001
	Interview on TVA (French) April 2, 2001
Chomedey News – Jan. 13, 2001 Quebec refuses to pay for 9-year-old’s CI	Interview on TQS (French) March 6, 2001
	Interview on TVA (French) March 5, 2001					Live Interviews (Continued)
Montreal Gazette Letters to the Editor	Interview on CTV Pulse News March 5, 2001					Inter. Global TV Jan. 12, 2001
Montreal Gazette – Jan. 9, 2001 Health Insurance Board says NO to deaf boy	Interview on TQS (French) March 3, 2001					Inter. TQS (French) Jan. 11, 2001
	Inter. CTV Pulse News Jan. 23, 2001					Inter. CTV Pulse News Nov. 21, 2000
Canadian Jewish News – Dec. 14, 2000 Man seeking funds for son’s Cochlear Implant	French News Paper Articles
	Journal le Métro – Nov. 15, 2001 Les parents de Ryan réclament… (French)
Montreal Suburban – Dec. 6, 2000 Deaf ears? Hearing challenged lad’s dad questions Quebec’s refusal to fund Cochlear Implant
	Le Devoir – Jan. 10, 2001 Qui a droit aux implants? (French)
Montreal Mirror - Nov. 30, 2000 Quebec opts to keep child deaf	Le Journal de Montréal – Jan. 10, 2001 Un père questionne les decisions de la RAMQ
Welcome to Holland Story about dealing with a Special Needs child.
Press Release January 16, 2002					Communiqué De Presse 16 janvier 2002
Top-level attachés to the Quebec Health Minister Are negligent to discriminatory practices of RAMQ and Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu de Québec
Parents go to media, possibly to court in their attempt to force R.A.M.Q. (Régie d’assurance maladie du Québec (Quebec Public Health Care System)) to pay for Cochlear Implant.
Montreal January 27, 2001 One person called it a miracle of biblical proportions. Thanks to a device called a Cochlear Implant, 9-year-old deaf Ryan Duchoeny may one day be able to hear. There's a difference between miracles in the Bible and those performed by doctors. Ryan's miracle requires funding by R.A.M.Q. and the Quebec Health Ministry. R.A.M.Q. and the Quebec Health Ministry are something the Duchoeny family has learned to distrust. R.A.M.Q. and the Quebec Health Ministry refuse to cover the costs of the surgery for their son, Ryan. This story will play out in an American operating room, a Quebec courtroom, at the Quebec Human Rights Commission and in any media outlet that is willing to listen. One debate over Cochlear Implants, that is slowly unfolding through the Duchoeny family comes down to measuring the results of a controversial procedure against how much it costs. A Cochlear Implant will cost about $40,000 U.S. This is if R.A.M.Q. refuses to pay the $30,000.00 (Canadian) that it will cost for the procedure in Canada. Quebec Medicare now covers the procedure for a limited number of children and adults that are deemed “appropriate”. A recent study by John Hopkins University Hospital estimates that young children who receive the implant can save "as much as $50,000 annually" or "as much as one million dollars” over the lifetime of the individual. At a meeting on Monday October 23, 2000 Monsieur Maxime Barakat and Madame Sylvie Tremblay (top-level attachés to the Quebec Health Minister, Madame Pauline Marois) vowed that they would look into and try to resolve the discriminatory practices of Quebec Medicare. Results were promised for Friday November 3, 2000 but none were delivered. Deaf children are being denied the chance of hearing. The health ministry refuses to give older signing children Cochlear Implants. They claim that due to the fact that these children communicate by sign language they are not suitable candidates for Cochlear Implant. Frank Duchoeny a resident of Chomedey, Laval, and father of Ryan who is profoundly deaf, says that… "This surgery should be available to people who want it". "R.A.M.Q. and the Quebec Government are making this decision for me". They say that we don’t meet the criteria. The truth is that this is an issue of cost and discrimination. They claim that due to the fact that Ryan is 8 ½ and communicates by sign language he is not a good candidate. NYU Medical Center in New York feels the opposite. Frank Duchoeny has brought charges of discrimination against Hôpital Hôtel Dieu and R.A.M.Q. “The Quebec Human Rights Commission has stated that they are not allowed to make a distinction between children who sign and children who do not.” Some people believe parents should wait for a Cochlear Implant until a child is old enough to decide whether he or she wants to be part of the "hearing community''. In this case Ryan Duchoeny is asking to be implanted. He realizes the importance of hearing. The doctors in Quebec, in the meantime are telling us that children should be implanted by their first birthday. A survey of Cochlear Implant literature clearly indicates that all children receive some level of benefit regardless of age of implantation and / or their mode of communication. Moreover the decision about whether any given benefit is "sufficient" to merit the implantation should rest primarily with the patient and / or the parents.  This decision should belong to the parents and not R.A.M.Q. the Quebec health Ministry and the doctors. "I want Ryan to hear me say, 'I love you' ". "I want Ryan to be able to order his own food in a restaurant and to be able to talk to his grandparents." Ryan was born deaf. He suffers from "nerve deafness," or sensorineural hearing loss in which the tiny hair cells that line the cochlea have been damaged. Ryan’s parents have no hearing problems and have found no instances of hearing loss in their family trees. The Cochlear Implant is an electric prosthesis. When surgically placed in the inner ear, it performs the function of the cochlea. That's the part of the inner ear that decodes sound waves into electrical pulses. The implant enables deaf people to perceive receptive sounds. Most children who receive the implant learn to speak. The Duchoeny family must raise $36,000 U.S. to pay for Ryan’s implant while at the same time putting public pressure on R.A.M.Q. A hearing aid amplifies sound, while a Cochlear Implant perceives sound and translates it into electrical pulses. "The surgery is literally a miracle of biblical proportions''.
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For further information please contact Frank Duchoeny at frank@duchoeny.com