Exeter mother's moving words win national writing competition
27 June 2012
Exeter mum Jane Ring has won a national writing award for a motivational letter to herself and become a published magazine writer.
Coinciding with Deafblind Awareness Week (25 June to 1 July), her winning words are about to be published in the July edition of Candis magazine.
"There is so much I could share to try and lighten the load but you are just going to have to experience the roller-coaster ride for yourself. Have courage, you are far stronger than you think."
Jane’s piece was a letter sent back in time to give herself courage when she finds out her daughter Chloe, born in June 2008, is deafblind.
In the prize giving ceremony held by Sense, acclaimed actress Rebecca Front (The Thick of It, Grandma’s House), presented Jane with a certificate and a £150 cheque. Jane’s winning words also earned a £1000 donation from Candis magazine, a key award supporter, to fund arts related events in Exeter over the coming year.
Jane, 37, said: "It’s been amazing to share my words which I read out loud with all the other authors and a really bonding moment to know I was not alone and that there are other parents like me with similar worries and challenges."
Rebecca Front said: "Congratulations to Jane! My work is about bringing written words to life and I was compelled by the stirring power of these words that have so much joy and pain, life and living and the real spirit of deafblind people’s experiences at their very heart. These are very powerful words."
Sense devised the Express Yourself awards to give people with a sight and hearing loss a platform to show their writing talents. All the winning works can be read on our website.
Here is an excerpt from Jane's letter.
"Dear Jane
"Today, Friday 13th June 2008, is a momentous day for you. Today you are going to give birth to your first child. I am writing this letter to help you prepare for what is to come. Things are going to get a little hairy for a while. I can’t sugar-coat it or change history because then we would be without Chloe.
"I am afraid you only have fifteen tired and blissful days together as a normal family before the first official hospital appointment. The one that diagnoses that your baby is profoundly deaf. She can’t hear anything apart from perhaps the sound of a really noisy lorry or a samba band.
"Later you will enter the registrar’s room and he will quietly tell you that your daughter has very poor vision. Those words place a bomb firmly in your life. Your baby can’t hear; she has to be able to see.
"No one has seen a child like Chloe before; she doesn’t have a syndrome or a known condition. Chloe is so totally amazing that you stop thinking about what she can’t do and hold on to all the positives. She brings light and love into the world.
"My most wonderful, joyous news is that Chloe is given hearing. All your fears of her growing up in a silent world disappear once you go ahead with bilateral cochlear implants. The night before surgery you are awake next to Chloe in the hospital room listening to the sounds of all the distressed babies. You feel very alone and terrified but I want you to know it will be worth it. It is the best decision you and Neil ever made. Please trust yourself more Jane, you are a good mum.
"Six months after she is given access to sound you will hear her first words. They are just for you, your reward for staying strong. You are changing her one day after Christmas and she is gurgling up at you, smiling at your face when she says, 'Mama'.
"This year Chloe will turn four and she certainly is a credit to you and Neil and all the input she has received since she was tiny.
"Jane, there is so much I could share to try and lighten the load but you are just going to have to experience the roller-coaster ride for yourself. Have courage, you are far stronger than you think!"