As soon as Sophie Hodges' parents brought her home from hospital after her birth they knew there was something wrong with her hearing.

As a trained nursery nurse and already a mother-of-two, Michelle Hodges knew Sophie wasn't responding as her other two children had.

"I spoke to the health visitor and they referred her for tests straight away," said Michelle, 41, who lives with her husband Alan 43, Sophie, now seven, Danny, 16, and Olivia, 11, in Shelf.

Unfortunately her instincts proved right and having been born in December, by March Sophie had been diagnosed as profoundly deaf.

"It was devastating - there was no deafness in either of our families," said Michelle, who works as a child care development co-ordinator for Kirklees Council.

Michelle and Alan were keen to find out what had caused Sophie's deafness and went to Leeds for genetic tests where it was found the cause was a missing gene and they had a one-in-four chance of having a deaf child.

"Straight away we were told that they would refer Sophie to the cochlear implant service in Bradford," said Michelle.

"They also gave us hearing aids when she was four months old but she just took them off and sucked them."

The family embarked on a year-long process of checks and tests to make sure Sophie was suitable for cochlear implants and when she was 16 months old she went to Bradford Royal Infirmary for the implants to be fitted.

"It was worrying but it was the right decision for us," said Michelle. "We had to give her the chance of being able to hear.

"It was a difficult time but we got through it."

After the initial operation there followed an eight-week wait for the implants to be switched-on'.

"They turned it on very low at first and she did not seem scared," said Michelle. "It was quite an exciting time for us and Sophie just seemed to adjust straight away."

Although her speech had been delayed, by the age of three Sophie was using proper words and now aged seven she attends Northowram Primary School where she loves to read and enjoys swimming and gymnastics.

"We have never looked back," said Michelle. "She talks normally so people do not know she is deaf."

Michelle is full of praise for the team in Bradford who gave her youngest daughter to gift of hearing and is supporting the Telegraph & Argus Listening for Life Appeal.

"They have been brilliant - just fantastic," she said. "We are just round the corner and if you ever need them they have said just come straight up.

"We have been really lucky."

The T&A Listening for Life Appeal is raising £1.5 million for a cochlear implant centre at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

The Ear Trust has supported the Yorkshire Cochlear Implant Service at Bradford Royal Infirmary since 1990.

It has already raised £1m towards the cost of the new centre and is appealing for help in raising the remaining £1.5m to help transform the lives of profoundly deaf babies, children and adults.

The service performs around ten per cent of all implant operations in England but with its success and increasing numbers of referrals from across Yorkshire, it needs to build a purpose-built centre, in the grounds of BRI, which will make it the only centre of its kind in the UK.

The centre will be a ground-breaking building - apart from cochlear implants, all the other related work, such as pre-testing and follow-up support will take place under one roof. There will also be a training suite for courses for professionals, people with implants and parents and family.