037: John and Jennifer Cote's Story of International Adoption, Medical Tourism and Cochlear Implants

In 2003, Host John Cote and his wife Jennifer decided to adopt three children, a sibling group of a girl and two boys who became their new family from Poland. In this episode, John tells the story of their adoption journey, the medical issues they encountered and how their son Peter underwent Cochlear Implant surgery to repair his deafness just 3 weeks after arriving in the United States with his new family.

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In This Episode, You’ll Learn

John and Jennifer’s story of why they decided to adopt internationally and the challenges they faced
Some of the medical issues to consider when adopting internationally
Learning to deal with foreign governmental agencies to get the fastest possible outcome
The importance of researching your cochlear implant hardware and surgeon to ensure the best fit for your child
The importance of keeping an open mind and remaining flexible in the face of enormous obstacles

The Resources

The Onwards Medical Breakthrough

What if doctors could grow a new working inner ear from a person’s own skin cells? Or repair the damaged inner ear from within?

Today’s Medical Breakthrough comes from Stanford University, “Solving this profound mystery is the driving force behind stem cell research and the promise of tissue engineering in otolaryngology. While hearing aids and cochlear implants can provide good recovery of hearing function, the development of a biological method to repair the damaged cochlea has the potential to restore normal hearing without any type of prosthesis. By mimicking the steps involved in the formation of embryonic mouse ears, Stanford scientists have produced stem cells in the laboratory that look and act very much like hair cells, the sensory cells that normally reside in the inner ear. If they can generate hair cells in the millions, it could lead to significant scientific and clinical advances along the path to curing deafness in the future.”

Jennifer and I very hopeful that this technology happens quickly so Peter can have the best possible hearing in the near future.

You can learn more about this biotechnology at this link.