Sue's Story
Sue will capture a place in your heart – she has overcome so much with what many of us perceive as so little.
At the age of 18 months, Sue Thomas was watching television with her family when suddenly the sound went off. Confused as to what was happening, her parents put her to bed. The next morning, when she did not respond to voices, they realized something was horribly wrong. They rushed her to their family doctor in Youngstown, OH. The news was jarring: their only baby girl had suffered an instant — and total —loss of hearing. Sue was profoundly deaf.
Despite various operations and experimental treatments, nothing could restore the hearing loss. Sue’s parents made a life-time vow: “We will do whatever we can, absolutely everything in our power, to enable you to become as much a part of the ‘hearing world’ as possible.”
They enrolled her in the Youngstown Hearing and Speech Center. Sue began to learn the process of speaking “by imitating the vibrations I felt when I put my hands on the therapist’s throat, and by looking in the mirror to shape my mouth the way she formed hers”.
Later came endless hours with voice and drama coaches, as well as trumpet and piano lessons. “I’ve never heard a mistake I’ve made yet,” quips Sue, who is trained as a classical pianist.
When Sue mastered the art of lip reading and speaking, she entered public elementary school and was assigned a seat on the front row from where she could see the teacher’s lips. Her struggle to learn was difficult (when the teacher turned to face the blackboard, all communication ended). Learning was made difficult, as well, due to constant ridicule from fellow students making fun of her speech patterns.
To escape their teasing and taunting, Sue spent more and more time at a nearby skating rink. With the help of a determined coach, Sue began to skate by keeping an eve on her coach who, like a conductor, marked the beat of the music. At age seven, Sue became the youngest Ohio State Champion free-style skater in skating history. “It really saved my life. Why? I might have talked awful funny. And I might have been that class dummy. But there wasn’t one kid in my school, not one of them, who had a bigger trophy than I did!” Sue’s parents continued to encourage her.
“Mother had a painting of Jesus hanging in my bedroom. She explained that with God’s help, there was absolutely nothing in my life I couldn’t do.”
That inspiration, instilled at an early age, eventually led Sue to enroll in Springfield College in Springfield, MA. In 1976, she completed her Bachelor of Science degree in political science and international relations. Graduate work followed at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH.
“I’ve worked all my life to function in the hearing world,” she says, noting that her hard work finally paid off when she was hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, DC. At first, she helped start a program to train deaf people to classify fingerprints. However, due to her superb ability to read lips, she was approached by agents who had videotaped an investigation, only to find the camera's sound mechanism had failed. "They asked if I could read the people's lips and tell what was being said."
Her successful completion of that high profile case led to work in undercover surveillance. "It was no problem for me to stand across a room in, say, an airport where a deal was going down, and take verbatim notes on what the suspects were saying!"
Despite her success with the FBI, invitations to gala parties and widespread esteem in the nation's capitol, Sue was not satisfied. She'd met and exceeded her family's highest dreams for her and had, indeed, become a successfully functioning member of the ‘hearing world’. "But I began to think there must be something more for me than this," she says.
That realization led her to Columbia Graduate School of Bible and Missions in Columbia, South Carolina. This was where the life changing lessons were learned, and a promise discovered. From that time forward, she has had but one desire, to go forth to proclaim the love and forgiveness of God, through His Son, Christ Jesus.
In this endeavor, Sue speaks nationally before civic, professional and church groups. She is interviewed regularly on television and radio including Focus on the Family, Truth That Transforms and The 700 Club. Aside from speaking, she has authored her best selling autobiography, Silent Night, and is currently completing another book. Sue lives in Ohio with her golden retriever, when they are not on the road speaking.
Yet, Sue’s amazing story does not end there. Recently, God has opened additional doors have for Sue’s story to be heard by the masses. In October of 2002, Sue’s adventures with the F.B.I. will be dramatized in the original television series appropriately titled, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye. In a history-making scenario, Sue’s role is played by Deanne Bray – too, a deaf woman with life similarities of her newfound friend, the real-life Sue Thomas. PAX Television will air Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye, written by the prolific writing team of brothers Dave & Gary Johnson. The Johnsons are also responsible for the #1 PAX drama series, the highly moral, faith-based series Doc, with Billy Ray Cyrus. And Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye will air directly after Doc on Sunday evenings.
What’s next for Sue Thomas? Let’s just keep watching.
What others are saying about Sue Thomas
“Fearless Sue Thomas has … fought battles all her life. Faith is what keeps her going.” TV Guide, 10/19/02
“Sue Thomas, who is deaf, inspires a TV show (Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye) and those who hear her speak.” Los Angeles Times, 10/10/02
(regarding the show Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye) “… the entire family can watch it, knowing that when God is mentioned, He’s a noun and not a curse word,” - Cal Thomas, Syndicated Newspaper Columnist / Fox News Contributor |
