Hearing-impaired girl learns peace from a dolphin

[July 25, 2009]  DALLAS (AP) -- Ten-year-old McKenna McGough said it was a friendship with a dolphin that finally made her realize she shouldn't be embarrassed to wear her hearing aids. On a trip two years ago to Clearwater, Fla., McKenna met Winter the dolphin, who had lost her tail in an accident involving a crab trap.

The girl's mother, Stacy McGough, told Dallas-Fort Worth television station KXAS that after seeing Winter for the first time, McKenna started wearing her hearing aid.

McKenna says of Winter, "She's not so shy to show her stump, so why should I be shy to show my hearing aid?"

McKenna has seen Winter six times in the last two years. She's even watched Winter's trainers fit the dolphin with a prosthetic tail. In McKenna's words, "She's helped me in not being afraid to be different."

Winter lives at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

[Associated Press]

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