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NARRATOR: Most of us sense and perceive the world primarily through sights and sounds. But for triplets Emma, Zoe, and Sophie, sensation and perception are a very different matter.
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Emma and Zoe are blind and deaf. Sophie is also deaf, but has limited eyesight.
LIZ: Who's climbing down the ladder?
SOPHIE: Who's climbing down the ladder?
NARRATOR: Their mother, Liz, was only 23 weeks pregnant with the triplets when she was rushed to the hospital for an emergency C-section.
LIZ: I remember laying on the OR table and them delivering the babies and putting them in incubators and rolling them by. And they didn't look bigger than bullfrogs. I remember feeling terribly frightened for them.
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NARRATOR: Liz already had another daughter and had recently become a single mother when she discovered blood vessels in the eyes of each triplet had not adequately developed-- a common complication of premature birth. All three girls were blind, and further bad news lay ahead.
LIZ: Zoe started to lose her hearing first. She quit playing with one of her favorite toys. She would push the buttons and push the buttons and get real frantic and then broke it.
NARRATOR: Each of the triplets had now lost their hearing as a result of receiving antibiotics as newborns.
LIZ: My babies, who were happy and thriving, all of a sudden didn't want to eat and were punching themselves in the face and banging their heads on the floor. The little girls who were starting to walk were now in the fetal position on the floor and couldn't do anything. And going all the way back to square one after fighting so hard to get to where we were was devastating.
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NARRATOR: Although she's legally blind, Sophie does have a limited eyesight. All three girls also use cochlear implants, which have helped them become more communicative. And to compensate for what they can't see or hear, the triplets have come to rely more on their senses of touch, smell, and taste.
MAN: Yeah, very good.
LIZ: One.
SOPHIE: One.
LIZ: Two. Sophie has got a hilarious personality, great sense of humor, lots of fun.
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Buh, buh, buh, buh. Emma is our little princess. When she laughs, you want to laugh with her. She likes to be clean. She likes to be pretty. She doesn't like to be messy. And Zoe is our little tomboy. She's an active child. She likes to roll around in the dirt and climb things.
MAN: Here he comes.
NARRATOR: The burden of raising her children has taken an enormous personal toll on Liz, but she's determined to keep fighting on their behalf.
LIZ: It would be so much easier if I could just say, you know what, it's OK if they never are fluent in sign. It's OK if they never talk. But I really believe that these children were given to me, because I am stubborn as all hell, and I will not give up.
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