Richmond ? Anna Beach has a white Care Bear that goes everywhere with her.

“It’s something familiar that helps keep her calm,” Anna’s mother said. “I’m scared to wash it, but I’ve had to bleach it because it’s gotten so dirty.”

The stuffed animal, which is more affectionately known as “bear,” has seen Anna through every poke and prod.

He was there when doctors told her and her parents, Meghan and Jason Beach, of Richmond, that Anna was deaf.

He was there when she had her first major surgery at 2 years old.

In this April 6 photo, meghan Beach, right, uses a combination of signing, auditory and oral communication to calm her frustrated 3-year-old daughter, Anna, at their home north of Richmond. Anna got her first cochlear implant in February 2009. On April 7, she had a cochlear implant put in her second ear.

“The nurses put a hospital bracelet and socks on him, just like they did to Anna,” Meghan Beach said.

And the bear went with Anna recently to another surgery that drastically will improve her hearing, Beach said.

On April 7, Anna had a cochlear implant put in her second ear. A cochlear implant is an implanted electronic hearing device designed to produce hearing sensations to a person with severe to profound deafness by electronically stimulating nerves inside the inner ear.

Anna got her first cochlear implant in February 2009.

The implant won’t restore her hearing, but it will be a way for Anna to create her own language and decode her current understanding of the world, Meghan Beach said. She describes it as “a bunch of beeps and whistles.”

“It doesn’t sound like what we hear,” Beach said. “But she learns to make that useful. When I say ‘mommy,’ it sounds like something else, but to her, it means ‘mommy.”‘

Progressive loss

Anna was born with a moderate hearing loss in her right ear.

Her mother said things were going pretty well until November 2007, when she and Anna’s dad realized something was terribly wrong.

“We noticed she didn’t even know we were talking unless she had a visual on us,” Beach said.

Anna’s condition quickly deteriorated when, at 18 months, the progressive hearing loss developed in both ears and she was fitted with hearing aids.

That helped temporarily, but in May 2008, her hearing loss was rated profound, which is deafness. At that point, the hearing aids did nothing for Anna, her mother said.

That’s when the family started considering cochlear implants.

Initially, the Food and Drug Administration only approved Anna’s insurance to pay for one implant. Anna’s doctor and audiologist appealed the decision.

“Without the implant, she has no access to speech. We had to do something,” Beach said. “I knew we weren’t going to take no for an answer.”

And for Anna, time wasn’t on her side.

“It’s kind of scary because if you don’t have something to stimulate her auditory nerve now, it can die,” Beach said.

If that happened, Anna probably never would hear again, even with the implants, she said.

About two weeks after the appeal, the family found out they had been approved for both implants.

In September 2009, Anna had a frequency mapping done of her hearing. Beach likens the process to tuning a radio.

“You can have the volume up, but if the tuner isn’t where it’s supposed to be, it sounds really static-y and distorted,” Beach said. “It works differently for every person.”

The surgery involves drilling 2 1/2 inches behind the ear and takes a few weeks to fully recover, Beach said.

Adjustments to make

The implant will allow Anna to hear more, but it also will have some less desirable side effects. For example, some people experience increased dizziness, especially with just one implant. Traveling is much more stressful, as well as any additional medical procedures, Beach said.

“People with these can’t just go in and have an MRI done,” she said.

Also, parents of children with cochlear implants often carry around a can of Static Guard, Beach said. Static can affect the child’s mapping and shock the implant’s frequency.

“If it’s thrown off, they’re not hearing, obviously,” Beach said.

Anna has to undergo regular testing to monitor not only her hearing but also her sight and her heart, Beach said. Her hearing loss symptoms are synonymous with other disorders, like Usher syndrome, a progressive degeneration of the retina, which eventually leaves children it affects deaf and blind.

When she’s 5 years old, Anna will have to be tested for long QT syndrome, a rare inborn heart condition that can lead to sudden death.

“Without them knowing why she has the hearing impairments, it’s kind of a puzzle,” Beach said. “It’s so unknown what we’re dealing with. It could be kidney issues, heart, we just really don’t know.”

After insurance, Anna’s surgeries and doctor visits have cost her family about $23,000, Beach said. Community organizations and groups have raised nearly $12,400, she said.

“The community has been amazing,” she said.