Heidi Bush thought her oldest daughter, Kiley, was being dramatic, like middle schoolers are.
“You don't think of that when you're a parent,” Heidi said. “It never dawned on me that she could be losing her hearing.” Her first thought in the moment wasn’t how impending hearing loss would affect school, or friendships, or a future job. It was, as Kiley puts it, “Oh crap, that could mean I won't be able to dance anymore at some point.”
But wanting their kids to have access to an extracurricular activity, that’s the drive the Bushes made, four times a week, shuttling them to and from the nearest dance studio. The time commitment, both in driving hours and practice hours, was grueling. So were the demands. Whereas tennis was individual, basketball meant working as a team, filling the void left by the absence of dance competitions. If Kiley worked out of her depression in eighth grade, she soared in 10th.
With that came resources. By now, as a senior, Kiley has no hearing remaining in her left ear and only 50% in her right ear. But at Combs, she’s not the only student with hearing loss. The school is equipped with all sorts of modern technology that makes her life easier. In her classes, teachers wear small microphones that transmit their instruction into an earpiece that Kiley wears on her right side.
“When she gets the ball, she's determined to score,” Combs coach Kameron Thomas said. “I played high school basketball and college basketball and one thing that looking back on, I wish I had her drive and determination … to just turn and score. She'll get double-teamed and she'll just plow through them and try to score or just draw the foul.”