Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Churman

I predicted this would happen a few days ago that Rush Limbaugh would discuss about the YouTube viral sensation of Sarah Churman and the Esteem implantable hearing aid remarkable result and impact on her and to the rest of the viewers. I heard Rush discussed the whole thing over my radio this morning. And his transcript can now be seen on his website.

The video of it on YouTube has gone viral. Millions of people are watching it. They got one thing wrong. She was not deaf. For the Esteem to work, you have to have some hearing. If you're a hundred percent deaf it won't work because it restores your natural hearing using your own eardrum. It's a prosthetic hearing implant, just became available last year, totally invisible. If you were to meet her today you would not see it. The Esteem works with her natural hearing to restore it to near optimum levels. The video I mentioned, you can actually see Sarah, the minute the Esteem is turned on she can hear herself laugh for the first time. She can hear her own voice clearly for the first time. She's so overwhelmed by all of this, something that we all take for granted, that she starts to cry.


Now, the video's only a minute and a half long, but it's a couple-Kleenex video. She's crying and laughing so hard, she goes through several tissues. Her husband, Sloan Churman, videotaped the moment for her, and he posts it for family and friends to see that could not be with her in the doctor's office when they turned the thing on. So one person tells another, the video starts to go viral and a week later six and a half million people have seen it or there have been six and a half million views of the video and what made it all possible was the Esteem from Envoy Medical. Now, you can see the video on YouTube, and we're gonna post it at RushLimbaugh.com, too. You can see the Esteem at EnvoyMedical.com, or call them, 800-518-7320.


But you should see this video. The moment it's turned on for the first time in her life she can hear, and it's an amazing thing. If you've never lost your hearing you have no clue what it's like and it's just an amazing thing to see, and it's a fabulous product, and when I saw the video, I said, "That's it! That's the Esteem, that's our client, that's our sponsor." I was proud as I could be, as we only associate with the best.

One thing Rush got wrong was that, yes, Sarah was born deaf. Maybe Rush was thinking in the context as stone deaf but yes, she's deaf and even hard of hearing, too. And now, she's easily hard of hearing to the point when people would automatically assume her to be hearing the way she would speak so clearly.

Congratulations, Sarah!

When haters gonna still hate....and the clueless ones continue to be clueless...

Amazing and touching video of a young woman turning on her implantable Esteem hearing aid for the first time. This YouTube video has gone viral with 4.8 million views and counting with over 20,000 comments along with over 49,000 likes and over 700 dislikes. Good thing the majority knows better and knows what a good thing looks like. Kudos to Sarah Churman for a successful implant but then the sad thing is that you'll get your usual haters in the comment section as always by a bunch of idiots who don't know any better. And then you have a bunch of ignorant people who can't even understand that deaf/hh people can speak just fine. And if you look further you might find a few gems.You'll have to spend some time to find and read those comments including the Today show. And, of course, you gotta go to this forum with the discussion on whether the video is a fake or not. 

Being ignorant is not an excuse.

Next, I bet with this viral video it will push a 2nd wave of interest from people wanting to know more about the Esteem implantable hearing aid and perhaps get even more investors for the makers of Esteem. Last year Rush Limbaugh helped advertise the Esteem hearing aid and saw a huge wave of interest in this new albeit very expensive hearing technology.

Thanks in large part to Limbaugh's plug on his radio show, White Bear Lake, Minn.-based Envoy recently raised another $16.4 million, including $10 million from hearing aid powerhouse Starkey Laboratories Inc., for its Esteem implantable hearing device.

Nice of Starkey Laboratories to donate $10 million dollars to Envoy as a worthy cause.

And lastly, as I mull this thought, I wonder what are the odds that Limbaugh will read about this YouTube viral on his radio show? I'd say it'd be pretty good odds over the next few days or so for that to happen.

UPDATE: For the naysayers, haters and doubters:

The Texan woman had been wearing hearing aids from the age of two, but had mainly relied on lip-reading, because 'hearing aids only help so much'.

Supportive messages have poured in from viewers, including one who wrote: 'This is one of the most beautiful and moving things I've witnessed. We're all so happy for you.'

Mrs Churman replied on YouTube: 'Thank you for all the positive comments... thanks for all the people who are kind.'

In response to viewers who were amazed at her ability to speak clearly, the formerly deaf woman said: 'My whole life I've been complimented on how well I speak.

'I don't really have an answer for you other than I have always had a passion for reading, grammar, and English.

'My hearing loss was/is considered severe to profound. I've worked very hard to be able to interact and blend in... only thing I can say is 'God is good'.'

Famous deaf talk show radio personality gets married.

Well, Rush Limbaugh finally got married, again. The marriage ceremony took place in Florida where the cochlear implant wearing Rush Limbaugh took his vows with 33 year old Kathryn Rogers. Rush shelled out a cool $1 million dollars to pay for Elton John's service to sing at his wedding. Something I'm sure that Elton John will get some grief for later on.

"I Hope Deafhood Fails"

Let me borrow one of the most recognized phrase of the time from one of the most famous deaf man ever to be on the radio where he discussed about the policies of Obama that continues to hurt the people of the United States. Rush Limbaugh said these famous words, “I hope Obama fails,” over a year ago on his radio much to the delight of conservatives everywhere. And let's change that phrase to:

“I hope deafhood fails.”

I bet Rush Limbaugh would probably say along the line of those words to RLM once Rush finds out about his recent blog in the hope that Rush would donate some money to the Deafhood Foundation organization (*insert canned laughter here*). But that won’t happen, especially not if Rush hears how RLM bashed Rush in a sick way wished that he had died on the operating table during his CI operation or that he would lose his voice, and last year in RLM’s blog he felt the need to try and encourage people to defile Rush Limbaugh. How do you think Rush would respond?

Rush: “I hope deafhood fails.”

But what does that suppose to mean? Is it the personal journey concept of a deaf/hh person that he hopes it would fail? Or the fact that people have used the deafhood mantra as a weapon of choice? I think it’d be more like the latter, not that I care about the word which I find already divisive. And it's being used as a political tool among some Deaf people that has already alienated many deaf and hard of hearing people, not to mention parents of deaf/hh children.

So, in following Rush Limbaugh's step, I hope deafhood fails.

Rush Limbaugh is a part of the deaf and hard of hearing community whether you like it or not. He participates in his own community in his own way and make use of his time when necessary. His journey is his own and doesn’t need the word “deafhood” to define his journey for him, nor have any Deaf organizations define him for who he is or what he should or should not do or what he ought to become. It’s really none of the people's business. And it makes no sense to bash Rush and then ask him to donate money afterwards. All in all, Rush will certainly not make that kind of donation for reasons only known to him.

My advice to Rush about donating money? Makes sure the money goes to a more deserving organization like this one as seen in this news story. Just don't sweat the small stuff.

Closed Captioned Video: Rush Limbaugh says Sarah Palin is ready to be president

Captioning by Kokonut Pundit.

Rush Limbaugh Donates Half Million Dollars to HEI to help Speed up Cure for Hearing Loss

Rush Limbaugh, the famous deaf radio personality and well known political commentator, recently donated $500,000 to the House Ear Institute (HEI). You can also see HEI's September 16, 2009 news release on Rush Limbaugh's donaton as well.

The HEI is known for their research role for the cure and restoration of hearing loss. Approximately 50% of HEI's annual budget comes from generous contributions. Rush' latest half of a million dollar contribution to HEI will certainly help speed up the process in finding a cure for hearing loss.

Famous deaf person loses 82 lbs with successful portion control program

Rush Limbaugh, who is deaf by the way, is continuing with his successful weight loss program which stands at 82lbs after hearing it on the radio recetly Friday a few days ago (link will expire in a few days).

....my weight loss, which is now 82 pounds. I started on March 9th. This is August 14th. My weight loss is now 82 pounds...

That'd be losing on average 1/2 lb of bodyweight a day. Not bad. Quite safe. And he follows highly nutritious meals prepared for him at 1500 calories a day under a "Quick Weight Loss" program. He looks much better in his ditto-cam nowadays and not so much looking overly rotund.

Here's a dinner description that Rush highlighted on Friday:

Last night when dinner was placed before me, I said, "This can't be right. There's too much here." The plate was filled with seven ounces of chicken, chicken breast cut in half, and on the top of it was a casserole type of broccoli, a little rice, some cottage cheese in there, and a thickening agent, I don't even know what it was, and a cup of asparagus that looked like the whole package from the grocery store. And then there was the frozen strawberry daiquiri protein shake, which is, by the time you drink it, about 20 ounces. I looked at that and said, "This can't be." I almost called Kathryn, said, "Kathryn, this is not right, this is too much food." I've thought that I can't tell you how many times that I've sat down to eat on this diet. It's amazing. The people who have not done it and the people who don't know what it is are telling you more about how it can't work and doesn't work than the guy who has done it! The arrogance of these people is just amazing.

Arrogance? How about prejudiced, too, simply because he's a conservative Republican? Unreal. And there were articles after articles demonizing Limbaugh for losing 1/2lb a day or 15lbs a month but spun it as if he was losing weight dangerously to imply, unrealistically, that Rush is in danger of doing that. Unreal. And they call themselves "doctors."

I went over to Alldeaf to start a topic to congratulate Rush Limbaugh on his weight loss success with kudos. The only thing I got was veiled demonizations from commenters against Rush rather than to give him any kudos. That tells alot of how they make this into a political reason not to praise and give kudos to Rush. In short, this was about politics when it shouldn't have been about politics but about acknowledging and giving well deserved kudos. Kind of funny when commenters attempt to bob and weave with their responses to make sure they don't give any semblance of kudos to Rush Limbaugh. Funny, but sad at the same time, too. It's people like Rush Limbaugh who inspire others to lose weight and that alone speaks volume. Avoiding kudos also speaks volume, doubly so.

Rush didn't take stimulants (ie. diet pills). No drugs. Instead he has a planned eating program designed to learn how to portion your food intake while having a great and nutritious meal. And because of that, Rush was able to lose 82 lbs so far and inspired others to continue with their own weight loss program.

CALLER: I'm calling because I've had similar success on a weight loss program very similar to your program.

RUSH: Not possible.

CALLER: (chuckling)

RUSH: The weight I've lost I haven't lost, according to the experts.

CALLER: I know. I heard that. I started out at 319; I lost 90 pounds.

RUSH: In what period of time?

CALLER: It took about a year.

RUSH: It took about a year.

CALLER: Uh-huh. And I looked online at the program you were using and I realized that the products were very similar to the ones I used. The protein supplements and things were very similar.

RUSH: Well, congratulations, that's great, 90 pounds, that's significant. I'm at 82 since March the 9th. But, you know, men lose weight faster --

CALLER: Exactly.

RUSH: -- than women do. They just do.

CALLER: And I had kind of slacked off and wasn't being as diligent and then when I saw what you were doing I got back on it and I lost five pounds the first week.

RUSH: Well, way to go! I'm happy to provide inspiration in yet another way.

CALLER: Thank you.

RUSH: You had a question. It says up here, "Do you still eat...?" What? What were you going to ask me?

CALLER: Oh, the screener was asking me if I go hungry, and I told him no. I don't go hungry at all. The food is very nutritious. It really teaches you the proper portions and you don't go hungry at all.

RUSH: I actually don't look at this as a diet anymore. I look at it -- you can call it portion control or whatever. It's just how to eat sensibly.

CALLER: Mmm-hmm.

RUSH: I'll tell you a little something. We've had a blast out here this week and I've been going to dinner every night, and one night this week -- it's not because I overate or anything, but one night this week -- at the end of the night I felt like I used to feel when I weighed 290 after eating dinner.

CALLER: Mmm-hmm.

RUSH: And I said, "I am never going through this again. This is never going to happen." It just took that one time.

CALLER: Mmm-hmm.

RUSH: Really, I don't know what happened. I think it was just a combination. That was the night I pulled the all-nighter and so forth. But I'll tell you, this is the first diet -- quote, unquote, "diet" -- that I been on that I don't want to get off of.

CALLER: Well, I'm still on it.

RUSH: Other diets when I finally got to the goal I said, "All riiiiiiiight!"

CALLER: Exactly. That's what I did and then I started putting it back on.

RUSH: Yeah, well, that will happen. Yeah.

CALLER: I'm not going to do that.

RUSH: Well, congratulations, June. That's just great. I'm very proud of you.

CALLER: People can do it.

RUSH: People don't know how hard this is. They don't know how to stick with something and lose 90 pounds.

CALLER: It is hard but people can do it.

RUSH: Of course! Of course people can do it. People do it all the time but the experts say I haven't done it.

CALLER: I know. I heard that. (chuckling)

RUSH: It's just amazing. June, thanks for the call.

CALLER: Thank you. Bye.

RUSH: I appreciate it.

So, instead of using politics as an excuse to avoid kudos to anybody who loses weight in sound and sensible manner who took the time and planned effort deserves kudos no matter what their background in politics. People will try all kinds of justification to avoid any semblance of a kudos and will come up with their own lame, lame way to avoid it.

Sad to see that happen. So, congrats to Rush Limbaugh on his successful weight loss! The most famous radio personality in the United States who happens to be deaf and wears a cochlear implant.