Tells why she didn’t try to get her deaf ear operated on
Published 2023-12-08 16.03
GOTHENBURG. Linn Blohm is deaf in her deformed ear.
Now she tells why she didn’t operate on it.
– Then I could be paralyzed in half of my face, says the handball star.
When Linn Blohm broke through just over ten years ago, she told Sportbladet that she has been deaf in one ear since birth.
Now the Swedish handball star tells us more about what is wrong and why she has not tried surgery on the hearing in her left ear.
– I was born with a deformity in the middle ear and the outer ear. So I have no ear canal. However, my inner ear is completely normal, so if I had a hearing aid I would be able to hear, she says and continues:
– It has been a part of me and I have not seen it as a handicap or something negative. But in a large venue, like a handball hall, with lots of people and noise around, it can be very difficult for me to hear what people are saying.
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1 / 2Photo: JESPER ZERMAN / BILDBYRÅN
“The infection eats up the cartilage”
The 31-year-old thus has no problem talking about his “disability”.
– You can operate on an ear canal, but when the skeleton is wrong in the middle ear, doctors don’t dare to do it because then a nerve can cause you to become paralyzed in half of your face. And of course you don’t want that (laughs).
– I’ve tried a hearing aid, but it was just annoying. For example, I couldn’t train with it.
But it had been many years since she looked at the possibilities of an operation.
After all, medical science is advancing rapidly – perhaps it would be possible now without risking facial paralysis?
– Yes. I had surgery when I was 13 to create an outer ear. Then they took cartilage from the ribs. But there were infections and it was feared that I would lose the whole ear. Now it doesn’t look as good as it did before because the infection is eating up that cartilage. Now I have decided that if I am going to do something with my ear, it must be after my career. It would have been nice to be able to have the hair behind the ear, for example.
full screen Photo: Daniel Stiller / Bildbyrån
Never been bullied
Blohm, an everyday professional at Hungarian super club Györ, has never tried to hide his deformed ear.
– I was never “bullied” for it when I was little and no one has even commented on it at all. The ear and hearing are also the first things I talk about when I come to a new team. To be open about it and teammates won’t think I’m dissing them if I don’t hear.
She understands that she can be an important role model, not least for young people.
– I am not ashamed to show my ear and have always had my hair up, for example. I accept the way I am and look. This is me. Nice to show who I am, says Blohm.
full screen Photo: Michael Erichsen / Bildbyrån
2023-12-10 02:02:05
#Swedish #star #paralyzed #face
