Cochlear implants have ‘become part of me’: Milly’s mission

Fifth grader Milly doesn’t remember life without having a cochlear implant. Now, she’s on a mission for other youngsters with hearing loss to have the same support.

11-year-old Hobart local, Milly Collins, has a cochlear implant. Picture: Paul Redding

When she was just nine weeks old Milly Collins became one of the youngest Tasmanians to be fitted with hearing aids.

When her hearing loss became more profound she had her first cochlear implant at 14 months and her second at 18 months.

Now the lively 11-year-old grade five student at Lansdowne Crescent Primary is on a mission to help other youngsters with hearing impairment.

Milly Collins. Picture: Paul Redding

As part of her passionate advocacy, she will address politicians and other dignitaries at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, including Health Minister Mark Butler, about the importance of ongoing government support for early intervention services for children living with hearing loss.

Milly is unfazed by her public speaking gig.

She spoke to MPs at Tasmania’s Parliament House last year and gave out the certificates to the first graduates of The Shepherd Centre in Hobart in 2022.

She and her mother Clare Collins credit The Shepherd Centre, where children with hearing loss learn to listen and speak, with helping her overcome her hearing challenges to become a confident public speaker and advocate.

Milly, loved and admired for her kindness and sense of humour, is excited to be speaking in Canberra and describes the Shepherd Centre as “awesome”.

She admits she used to “feel different” because of the cochlear implants and jokes that she can take them out if she doesn’t want to listen.

“But now I’ve become more confident with my hearing,” she says.

“I’m not afraid to show people (the implants) I guess.

“I’ve been with the Shepherd Centre since I was six months old, when mum and dad flew to Sydney for our first regional workshop.

“They taught me how to listen through my cochlears, which is tricky.

“Now my cochlear implants have become a part of me.

“Without the Shepherd Centre I wouldn’t be who I am today and go to a normal school and do what everyone else does.

“I hope to support and inspire others.”

The Collins family, Clare, Anthony, Milly and Abbey on holiday at Uluru.

While Milly loves art, skateboarding, soccer and camping in those early days her parents worried what her future would hold.

Ms Collins said early intervention and ongoing support from a team of experts at the Shepherd Centre were “invaluable”.

“We don’t have a history of hearing loss in the family so we were surprised when Milly was born with a hearing loss and initially, we were fearful and worried about what that might mean for her,” she said.

“Early intervention was key from when she received her first hearing aids when she was nine weeks old.

“At six months we had our first trip to The Shepherd Centre in Sydney and that was a game changer for us.

“At 14 months her hearing deteriorated to the point where she needed cochlear implants and she had two different surgeries for those.”

Clare Collins puts Milly's hearing aids in for the first time when she was just nine weeks old.

Ms Collins was grateful for the outreach program offered by the Shepherd Centre and that the family had the financial means to frequently travel to Sydney.

“For our family, The Shepherd Centre felt like a lifesaving service.

“When we were so uncertain and scared for Milly’s future, we felt safe and reassured by the guidance and expertise they provided us.

“They were a game changer for us.

“The audiologists taught us to understand hearing loss in a way that no one else had.

“As a team, between our speech pathologists and my husband and I, we taught Milly to speak so well she had the best-spoken language in the class by the time she reached school.”

The world leading Shepherd Centre now runs a Hobart centre making services accessible for Tasmanians.

Milly and six others will speak at the Canberra event, Power of Speech, which is being organised by First Voice which represents organisations that provide listening and spoken language early intervention services for children who are deaf or hearing-impaired.