103 year old Leslie Hodgson, from Cumbria, had a cochlear implant fitted last month, and is thought to be the oldest person in the world to have regained their hearing.
Mr Hodgson is also registered blind and so has been living a profoundly lonely life since losing all of his family over 10 years ago. He had previously communicated with his friends over the telephone but this was no longer possible for him.
Mr Hodgson had researched cochlear implants and went to seek help from the hospital on his 103rd birthday. A cochlear implant is a prosthetic device which is inserted behind the ear and uses electrical stimulation to provide the sense of sound. The operation was carried out with Mr Hodgson awake. When the implant was first switched on, it would have been very strange for him while his brain tried to make sense of the electrical stimulus. It will take some time for his hearing levels to fully improve but he is able to hear some environmental noises and speech sounds. The clarity of the sounds he hears will also improve over time.
This operation was a great deal more advanced that the first ear operation Mr Hodgson ever underwent which took place in 1925!! The operation was carried out with a hammer and chisel. 97 years later, medicine has moved on significantly and surgeons have been able to help Mr Hodgson finally.
This man has shown all of us that you are never too old and that we should all have the same thirst for life that he does! Amazingly, Mr Hodgson has now even told doctors that he wants them to tackle his blindness next year by using stem cell treatment.
