God bless her: Deaf 14-year-old hears her father's voice for the first time after groundbreaking surgery

14-year-old, Maggie Gleason was born a miracle. Her heart stopped twice when she was born; she had weakened kidneys and lungs and a cleft palate. Despite all of that, Maggie survived.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - However, Maggie remained profoundly deaf. She was born without the cochleas, the organ in the inner ear that allows us to hear.

She was not a good candidate for traditional cochlear implants. But the Gleason family never gave up.

Light a prayer candle for Maggie and her family

In November 2014, Maggie received an experimental auditory brain stem implant that bypasses the ear altogether.

A few days after Christmas, the doctors turned on the device that lies between her brain and spinal cord.

"Maggie? Can you hear me?" her father called out. Maggie pressed a button, she could hear.

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For the first time in 14 years, she heard her father's voice.

"It was never something I would have thought we would see, or she would experience," stated Maggie's older sister, Katie Gleason.

Although she still has quite the journey ahead of her, with enough training, Maggie will one day be able to verbally speak.

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