Voiceless Child: No one dreamed she might survive, might talk. Except two ordinary people ... - Paperback

by Ann Giganti (Author)

Voiceless Child. True story. Voiceless literally.
Without pioneering surgery, little Heather could never talk. She had no family.
A must-read! Compelling! Page-turner.
When I met Heather:
"Only abandoned." The words stung. Didn't the woman envision what they meant?
Fourteen months old, Heather lay swaddled in a blanket, forgotten and lost amongst unchanging hospital routines. She'd lived her whole life in that hospital. She'd never felt the warmth of the sun or seen a field of wildflowers. She knew the pain of surgery, but never the comforts of a parent's love.

Heather's silent sobs puzzled me. I touched her pale fingers. In a fleeting moment, our eyes met, and her soul captured mine. Once home, I woke my husband and said we should adopt her. He protested. He thought the idea was absurd. Once he met her, he changed his mind.

Little Heather was destined for an institution. Some staff thought she was deaf and blind and mentally damaged. She breathed through a trach tube in her neck. She did not even know how to move her fingers. Some dreams come true better than imagined. Heather not only survives; she thrives and grows up to have a family of her own.

The book is about our struggle to adopt little Heather, and how we searched for a surgeon to restore her voice. Miraculous airway reconstructive surgery gives Heather the gifts of voice and swimming. Without it, she never could have talked, or swam with the dolphins.

The story takes place in Florida. One chance meeting, and we transformed the life path of a forsaken child. More surprising is how she changed everything in our lives for the better as well. Despair, laughter, joy, bullies, and the best sorts of people paved our journey to restore Heather's health. The book is about love: that of an ordinary couple, family, friends, and one special surgeon.

--Ann Giganti, author and Heather's adoptive mother

Review by Janet Kortright:
It was amazing!
I could NOT put this book down. I read it in one night. Start to finish. I felt like I was a part of the journey, the family. I will read again and recommend to others. A feel good story that shows there are good people in the world. To advocate for children. To stand your ground to get the care needed for your children.