Page 4 - MidWeek East - Feb 10, 2021

4 FEBRUARY 10, 2021
Hawai‘i Kai’s Dell Marks 3 Years Since Life-changing Surgery
BY NICOLE MONTON
ber of treatment options, one of which caused him to lose some of his hearing in De- cember 2009 and become ful- ly deaf by spring 2016. Short- ly after, he developed sepsis and moved to Santa Cruz in January 2017 for a lung trans- plant and was outfitted with cochlear implants that fall.
It’s been a little over three years since Hawai‘i Kai’s Bradley Dell got his hearing back, and in that time has been using his experiences with cystic fibrosis to help others locally and around the world. Last year, he made the decision to move back to Hawai‘i to serve students in University of Hawai‘i at Mā- noa-based Christian ministry, while continuing his publish- ing work with digital health care company BioNews.
Once I stopped kicking and relaxed into my circumstances, I found serenity.
“My return to Hawai‘i marks an odyssey come full circle,” shares the 2012 Mili- lani grad.
was paralyzed by fear, and I felt like the absolute silence was driving me literally in- sane. But once I stopped kicking and relaxed into my circumstances, I found seren- ity. Today, I spend most of my morning and bedtime with my implants turned off.”
Now, Dell’s brain has ful- ly adjusted to his Cochlear Americas implants, which not only allow him to hear but also stream audio directly from his phone via bluetooth, hyper-focus his hearing and more.
“Becoming deaf was trau- matizing for me,” he adds. “I
Diagnosed with cystic fi- brosis in 1993 shortly after he was born, Dell tried a num-
Bradley Dell dons a smile in January 2017, two days after his lung transplant. PHOTO COURTESY BRADLEY DELL
“My friends make fun of me because I make fresh mu- sic playlists nearly every day now,” he says. “I happily own my friends’ nickname for me: The Cyborg.”
“Wear masks and social distance so we can get back
to real life.”
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