So here we are. A year on from the day we found out that little Alice couldn’t hear.

What has changed?

Well little Alice isn’t so little any more, but more to the point, our eyes have been opened and we are tired – very tired.

That said, the journey we have been on has been incredible, and the people we have met along the way have been an inspiration.

If you had told me 366 days ago that the past year would have panned out the way it has, I would have laughed in your face. Out perfect little daughter was not as she seemed – perfect nonetheless, but with a problem we neither contemplated nor understood. Alice’s dear Granny was still with us, telling us that there was nothing to worry about and life – well life was just ordinary.

And here we are now. Back at our flat in Devon – the same flat we retreated to last year when we first found out about Alice’s deafness, yet in a lot of ways I wouldn’t change what has happened for the world. In a perverse sense, whilst I would give Alice the new batteries she needs for her ears tomorrow and would never wish this upon anyone, I feel enriched by the experience – dare I say it, a better person for it.

And Alice…..well Alice is all the more special and that is something we can never take away from her. She is a wonder. A phenomenal young lady who proves every second of every day that whatever life throws at her, she will continue to stun us all.

Darling Alice. If one day you read this, I love you more than you will ever know and I hope one day you forgive us for the way this all panned out.