When freshman Jeremy Vinluan was 3 years old he was diagnosed with progressive hearing disorder, a disability that deteriorates over time.

He was able to wear hearing aids until he was 6, when they no longer helped him. His mother was devastated and cried for months. His grandmother prayed every day for him so he could have a good life.

Her prayers were answered when Jeremy was 7 and his doctor said he would be a good candidate for cochlear implants, a hearing device that is implanted into the ear.

"There are two parts to the cochlear implant," Vinluan said. "The first is the implant, which requires surgery. The second part is the sound processor."

After a month of recovery, the sound processor is turned on.

After the surgery in his left ear, he heard a lot of noise and static. Even though he cannot hear 100 percent now, he hears most sounds, Vinluan said.

Junior Rachel Tovinitti was also diagnosed with severe hearing loss when she was 3 years old. She wore hearing aids for most of her life until she was a sophomore in high school, when she underwent surgery for cochlear implants.

"It is not a process where once the implant is turned on that everything is fixed," Tovinitti said. "It took time and patience, something I knew that I would have to work with. There were times where it was extremely frustrating because you wonder when is this process of being at 'finish line' is going to come. Surprisingly, the rehab process only took about a year."

When Vinluan was applying to college, he needed his prayers to be answered a second time while making the decision influenced by his disability.

"I was struggling on which college I should go to," Vinluan said. "I prayed to my grandmother for many weeks, and then I got a phone call from UD asking me if I was interested in the school."

That phone call is the reason why Vinluan is now at UD. He knew it was the right college because his grandmother was a Marian and devoted her life to the Virgin Mary. Everything connected perfectly.

As a pre-medicine major, Vinluan has aspirations of becoming an astronaut and traveling to Mars in 2037. At school, he is a writer for "MyLife at UD" and the community assistant on his Stuart Hall floor. He met his roommate Jared Rinehart on Virtual Orientation over the summer and their differences have helped each other through freshman year.

"He is a good kid and holds himself to very high standards," Rinehart said. "[He] challenges me to hold myself to high standards too."

Vinluan said there is an advantage to the cochlear implant. When he does not want to be distracted by television or music, he can simply turn off his sound processor.

Challenges include times when he does not understand something the first time and he needs it to be repeated. He receives help with academic work from the Ryan C. Harris Learning Teaching Center. He can have a speaker or a note taker for classes.

While Tovinitti can hear people talking, it is not always clear what they are saying, which is extremely frustrating, Tovinitti said.

"Even though it can be frustrating to not be able to do some of the everyday things without any problems, it's amazing when I look back to see how far I have come," said Tovinitti. "I really cannot picture the person I would be if I had normal hearing."