Hearing Loss and my life as a pianist

I am not deaf.

But ever since I suffered hearing loss in 2010 I must admit I feel a certain affinity with deaf people.

Due to mistaken identity, in 2010 I was stalked by a woman from Thornhill who thought I looked like her ex-husband (and this is why I don't put photos of myself online any more). The stalker was so convinced that I was her hated ex-husband, and so angry at whatever misdeeds he had done, that she stabbed me three times with a knife. Once in the left shoulder, once in my arm while I was trying to fend her off, and once in my right ear.

The woman then fled the scene, but was later arrested by police. Her lawyer pleaded insanity and she got away with a lighter sentence and mandatory time in a provincial mental ward.

Meanwhile my right ear suffered permanent hearing loss - she has severed several important nerves in the ear and damaged the eardrum itself with her knife. I am not deaf in that ear, but I do now use a hearing aid.

Despite this injury - and thanks to my perfectly good left ear - I was able to finish my Doctorate of Musical Arts at U of T. I must admit I was almost done anyway at the time of the stabbing.

I would also like to take a moment to thank the Omni Hearing Clinic in Vaughan for all their help during that trying time. I am very thankful that I still have my left ear to hear with, but I am very thankful that with an hearing aid I can now hear with my right ear again almost as well as before the incident.