I love you, mum: First words of brain-damaged girl, 6, given power of speech

Daily Mail [UK] ^ | 31st October 2008 | DAILY MAIL REPORTER

[Mike Fieschko]

Elke Wisbey has been able to tell her mother she loves her for the first time

A severely handicapped little girl who cannot walk or talk has used a machine to tell her mother for the first time: 'I love you.'

Six-year-old Elke Wisbey, who was born brain-damaged, has been able to communicate with her family by using a high-tech gadget which tracks her eye movements.

The £17,000 MyTobii Smartbox machine from Sweden detects which icons Elke is looking at by using tiny lasers.

When her eyes settle on an icon on the screen of the Smartbox, a pre-programmed voice speaks the word or phrase for her.

Just a few days after setting up the equipment, Elke's parents, Glynnis and Matt Wisbey, described how their daughter started using her eyes to repeat the words 'I love you' over and over again.

[snip]

'She was looking at the "I love you" icon and I couldn't believe it, she kept doing it.

'I said to Elke "are you telling Daddy you love him?" and she pointed at the icon "yes".

[snip]

Readers of a local newspaper raised money to buy the specially-adapted machine for the family from Bearsted, Kent.

The Wisbey family are all learning how to help Elke use the machine, but the little girl, who will never be able to walk or talk for herself or feed herself, has mastered it more quickly than any of them.

[snip]

'... We've been overwhelmed by people's support, it takes some people years to raise this kind of money and we've done it in a summer.'

[Mike Fieschko]

Searched and didn't find.

[JRandomFreeper]

This post causes Fuzzy Screen Syndrome (FSS).

/johnny

[Faith]

Bless this dear child and her parents. Sarah Palin will be a powerful advocate for all children such as this one with special needs. Love is the universal language for every child.

[frogjerk]

Obama and the left say this child is a burden. God says diffently.

[wagglebee]

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[HelloooClareece]

Technology at it’s finest. Thanks for this feel good post.

[CE2949BB]

And this is why I’m pro-life.

[agere_contra]

I have very low tear production in my left eye. Or at any rate I did until this article!

[BornToBeAmerican]

Life is life, death is final.

Love will always move mountains, contrary to what Nobama says.

[pj_627]

I am CERTAIN this child’s family consider her a joy and a blessing, NOT a burden! This one made me cry, and they were tears of happiness for this family. Every parent knows how sweet and precious it is when one of their little ones says “I love you mommy”, or “I love you Daddy”. Those are precious words that all normal parents log away in our memory banks, ready to be drawn out and replayed, again and again. Here is a child, unable to speak, and her first message to her family is “I love you”. Lord, makes this mom tear up.

pattyjo

[trisham]

What a wonderful story. Thanks for the ping.

[wvguy]

Whoa boy. I just got this knot in my throat that I can’t swallow.
The unconditional love of a child is such a powerful force.

[wintertime]

Obama will kill children like this.

[samiam1972]

I love happy stories! *sniff*

[OneWingedShark]

Even “severely brain damaged” the human mind is truly amazing. God is wonderfully good to have given us such faculties.

It is worth noting though, that the girl is incapable of even feeding herself; from the “societal worth” perspective she is ‘worthless’, and yet, if you ask the girl’s parents if it was worth all the costs and troubles to her her say “I love you” they would say “Unquestionably so.”

I say this all because this whole situation is a poor reflection of us in relation to God. There is nothing that we could ever do for God, and in fact our existence is dependent on Him.... and yet, He shows us that we are “worth it” by dying for us! (And coming back from the dead for us! We can’t forget that.)

And that, is I believe why this is such a touching story.

[Mike Fieschko]

ping to the pro-life list?

[Lesforlife]

Just sent it to one.

[Locomotive Breath]

Three cheers for the engineers.

Imagine a world without lawyers. Imagine a world without engineers.

In which would you rather live?

[wagglebee]

I’ll ping this to the Terri Daily thread either tonight or tomorrow.

It is a wonderful story!

[narses]

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