Twomonthold Eleanor Nolen was up against the clock. Bacterial meningitis was turning her inner ear to bone. She had lost all hearing. Le Bonheur Otolaryngologist Joshua Wood, MD, knew that if Eleanor was going to have a chance to hear again, he would need to conduct cochlear implant surgery before time ran out.

But the FDAapproved age for cochlear implants is nine months. And no documented patients younger than three months had ever undergone the surgery. Wood, with Eleanor’s parents, Jacob and Rachel, had a decision to make.

Thanks to the expert team at Le Bonheur Children’s, Eleanor became the youngest child ever documented to receive cochlear implants.