Many people have that one piece of technology that they can not live without it. Whether it's their phone, laptop, iPad, etc. For me, I can live without my phone or my laptop. Although they are both very useful and I use both every day, but the one piece of technology that I can not live without, that changed my life forever are my cochlear implants.

Some of you may or may not know but I am deaf. I am able to "hear" because I have cochlear implants. A cochlear implant is a piece of technology that provides sound signals to the brain. Since the inner ear which the cochlea may be damaged, the cochlear does the job of the cochlea which sends sound signals to the brain. There is an internal part of the implant which is surgically done. The external part is the device that hugs around the ear.

Cochlear implants can only work if one has profound hearing loss or no hearing at all. I was born profoundly deaf in both ears. The doctors and my parents had no idea that I was born deaf. I was born in the late 90's and in the hospitals, they didn't have hearing tests. As time went by, my mother started to notice that I wasn't very responsive and growing as a normal baby would.

My parents took me to a pediatrician and he told my parents that I was hearing and I was fine. My mother was not convinced and she took me to University of Miami where they had a center for hard of hearing. I was diagnosed profoundly deaf at nine months. I got my very first implant at sixteen months. About seven years later, I got my second implant.

Growing up with implants was definitely a challenge because I was different from everyone else. I did things differently from everyone else. I had different pieces of technology that the teacher had to wear in class so that way I can hear what the teacher was saying.

I did get some mean comments from fellow classmates; it was hard at first that my classmates weren't understanding and that they decided to not be my friend because I was different. Later on in life, I have embraced my differences and those differences made me who I am today.

Without my implants, I don't think I would have been where I am today. Many people have doubted me from the beginning because of a setback I was born with but if anything, it was just a challenge that made me stronger.

Some didn't think I would make it through high school being the struggles I encountered were exponential. I am proud to say that I graduated within the top twenty percent of my graduating high school class and I am attending University of Central Florida. My implants had given me many opportunities to learn and grow from.

So to the piece of technology that I am forever grateful for are my cochlear implants. I have grown with them ever since I was sixteen months. They have been with me through the tough and good times of life. They are a piece of technology that will have an everlasting effect on me. A piece of technology that I will use for the rest of my life and will always cherish.