Pregnant mum mystifies doctors with sudden deafness weeks from giving birth

Wānaka mother Gennady Murray had been looking forward to soaking up her last month with her husband and 20-month-old daughter before welcoming their second child.

Instead, two weeks ago, her world was suddenly turned upside down.

Now 36 weeks pregnant, Murray, 34, is relearning how to walk and balance herself, while grappling with profound hearing loss in her right ear.

It began two weeks ago about 4am, when Murray woke to settle her daughter back to sleep, as she had done countless nights before.

Then, out of nowhere, there was a piercingly loud ringing in her right ear.

Wānaka mother Gennady Murray with her 20-month-old daughter and husband, Sean.

As the high-pitched sound grew louder by the minute, Murray felt the right side of her face begin to go numb.

“I thought I was having a stroke,” Murray said.

Lying in bed, she tried to drown out the ringing with music, only to realise she could no longer hear through her right ear.

Murray got up and took a shower, hoping the noise might somehow subside.

“That’s when I realised I couldn’t walk. The whole room just felt like it was spinning,” she said.

“That’s when I knew something was wrong.”

With the nearest hospital hours away, Murray phoned her local after-hours service, which told her she needed to go to the medical centre as soon as it opened at 8am.

Gennady Murray had been looking forward to spending time with her family before her son was born.

By the time she arrived, four hours after the ringing began, Murray said she was so unwell she “couldn’t see straight”.

“I couldn’t walk without my husband pretty much holding me, and the ringing in my ear was just so loud,” she said.

Doctors were unable to pinpoint what had caused the sudden onset of ringing and numbness, and Murray said she was sent home with anti-nausea pills to rest.

“By the time I’d got home, that’s when the vomiting had kicked in,” Murray said.

“I just progressively went downhill from there.”

Gennady Murray is 36 weeks pregnant and suddenly deaf in one ear.

Her mother-in-law called the medical centre back after realising Murray was deteriorating, resulting in her being taken to Dunedin Hospital.

“Quite a few people came into the room from all different areas of the hospital because no one could quite figure out what was going on,” Murray said.

“They didn’t know if it was potentially a tumour or a blood clot in my brain which was causing the deafness.”

Murray said an MRI came back inconclusive, while a CT scan was clear.

Countless tests followed, eventually revealing that Murray had suffered profound and sudden hearing loss in her right ear.

“I went and did a hearing test, and the girl that did it said I’m profoundly deaf in my right ear; there is absolutely no hearing at all.

“Essentially like if a plane landed, I wouldn’t even be able to hear it. That’s how deaf I am, literally overnight.

“They have no real reason for it. It just happened.”

But the hearing loss has not been her only challenge.

Murray has been left struggling to balance herself, particularly while walking, and is battling what she describes as “insane” vertigo.

“I’m two weeks away from having a baby, and I’ve only just been able to start walking around our house,” she said

“It took me about a week to walk by myself – but still really, really wobbly.

“I can walk around my house, but the vertigo is insane.

“It feels like if you’re on a yacht and you’re trying to walk along the side of the yacht and try to hold on to like handlebars but the whole boat is just swaying.”

The sudden illness has transformed what Murray had imagined would be a special final few weeks as a family of three before her son arrived.

“I wanted to spend these last couple of weeks with my husband and my daughter, you know, enjoying the last few moments of being just us three.

“I can’t lift her, I can’t carry her, I can’t put her to bed. Um, I can’t do all those things that a mother should be able to do.”

For Murray, the prospect of welcoming a newborn while dealing with profound hearing loss has added another layer of fear.

Wānaka mother Gennady Murray with her 20-month-old daughter.

She said she was “fearful” not being able to hear her daughter cry at night, especially with a newborn on the way.

“I was feeling quite confident about having a second child and not being as scared this time round, and now I feel more scared than I ever did because what if I don’t hear my son cry,” she said.

“Am I going to be able to walk by the time he arrives? All those thoughts just go through your mind.”

Murray is due to undergo a steroid shot in her ear in an effort to regain hearing in the affected ear.

“If my hearing doesn’t come back, then I am just deaf,” she said.

Gennady Murray suddenly lost all hearing in her right ear. Doctors found no clear cause, and she may eventually need a cochlear implant.

Because Murray is profoundly deaf in the affected ear, her hearing cannot be restored with hearing aids.

Instead, she may eventually need surgery for a cochlear implant, which can provide a sensation of sound for people with severe and profound hearing loss.

In just a few weeks, Murray will welcome her son while navigating the complex and sudden reality of losing her hearing and struggling to regain her balance.

When asked how she remained positive, Murray said: “At the end of the day my daughter still needs me – so I just have to show up and be a mum for her,” she said.

“If someone had said to me you could go to sleep and wake up deaf, I would think that was pretty much a crock of s***, but apparently it’s true.

“I see people out there that are experiencing it way worse.

“As much as it’s hard for me, it’s not going to be the end of the world, and I’m going to get through it.”

Jazlyn Whales is a multimedia journalist based in the Christchurch newsroom.