Jake Daley's son Oliver was diagnosed with bilateral hearing loss when he was just 18-months-old.
Now being spurred on by the lack of funding for families in his position, Jake is campaigning to government to try and make a difference for any family affected by this.
After undergoing a six hour hearing test, specialists from Alder Hey told Oliver’s parents that he had “bilateral hearing loss in both ears” which will be permanent.
READ MORE: Woman, 60, dies after being hit by car in city centre
Jake , 32, originally from Walton, said: "Oliver is our first born, when kids are born they have to go through standard hearing screening tests to make sure there is no mucus in the ears, then if there are irregular responses you have to be sent for further testing.
"We were referred to Liverpool Women’s Hospital after failing his tests in Whiston [Hospital], for a more in-depth hearing test. They send sound frequencies into the ears to see if the vibrations come back and hit the machine, which he failed again."
He added: "They told us at this point that it could still be mucus from childbirth.
"We had a feeling then, like a feeling in our stomach that there was a bigger issue.
"We had to be referred once more to Alder Hey’s audio department to go through pretty much the same testing procedure, and Oliver failed these again.
"They told us this is genetic, and we were told that if we were to have anymore kids that there is a one-in-four chance that this could happen again, our second born wasn't affected though."
Some children are born with hearing loss, called congenital hearing loss, which occurs through gene inheritance from either or both parents.
Congenital hearing loss can be hereditary or caused by infections during pregnancy, including infection with cytomegalovirus or rubella.
Jake said: "As you can imagine this completely flipped our world upside down, I couldn’t come to terms with it at the time, I had to go back in to Alder Hey on the same day just to clarify what they said was right.
"I hadn’t taken it all in, my partner Kirsty was the same, our minds were blown by it."
While Oliver can speak, the frequencies are affected by the hearing loss.
Jake said: "He will never hear the sound of a bird tweet, but he may be able to hear a plane taking off. There are just certain frequencies he cannot hear.
"His hearing aids help him a lot, certain phrases if we are talking to him he won’t be able to pick up because of the frequencies in our speech, but they do help him a lot.
"We still don’t know what he is going to be like when he grows up, we have no indication of that yet, it is only videos we can watch of other kids with the same hearing loss [as Oliver] to see what they’re like, but everyone is different."
He added: "We were contacted by the Merseyside Deaf Society, they sorted us out with regular visits to Oliver just to see how he is getting on. They will go to certain schools or nurseries that we decide to put Oliver in and they will make sure that they have the adequate support for him. They will advise the school and teachers how best to deal with Oliver, and also recommend schools they think will be best for him."
Jake is currently petitioning to parliament to have the government fully fund British Sign Language lessons to the parents of deaf children in the early years of the child's life.
Jake said: "I am at the point now where I want to start learning sign language, Oliver will start when he goes to school, but there is nothing in place for me and Kirsty to start ourselves.
"At the moment we can only apply for a place on a course via a charity, but if you miss the course, or you’re not picked, then you are waiting again.
"You can pay privately but they are so expensive, it is in excess of 200 pounds. There are seven to eight courses, and there is a price increase for each of them, which can amount to a lot of money.
"So I wanted to start this petition because we shouldn’t have to rely on a charity, there should be something in place from the government to help anyone in our situation."
"We are doing the three peaks challenge, starting with Ben Nevis, onto Scafell Pike, and finishing in Snowden."
Jake, together with friends and family, Aaron Halson, Paul Siner, and Nathan Daley will be completing the challenge to raise the funds to donate to charity, and have said that it is open for anyone else who would like to get involved with them.
For more information you can visit the page here.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
