By Claire Elliot

LITTLE Arthur Russell battled back from the brink of death four times after being struck down with meningitis.

But on the day he was due to be released from hospital his parents were dealt the devastating news that the killer bug had left him profoundly deaf.

The toddler is now the youngest person in Scotland to be given electronic hearing implants.
 

While the devices, called cochlear implants, do not restore his hearing, they provide a sensation of sound, allowing him to recognise speech and music.

 His mother Rebecca, 40, from Elgin, said: “Even though he could hear before it’s a whole new way of hearing for him.

 "What he hears would, to us, sound like a dalek with laryngitis but his brain compensates for this a bit."
 

Knowing this, Mrs Russell and her husband, Eric, expected his development to be delayed.
 

But Arthur, who is not two until next month, has already started to show signs of musical talent by playing the piano.
 

He is too young to read music but he selects the notes he wants to play by watching the hammers strike the piano strings.

The youngster is also learning sign language along with his parents and big brothers Louis, five, and Finn, three.

 The 23-month-old can sign everything from “mum“, “dad” and his brothers’ names to nursery rhyme, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
 

Mrs Russell, a lecturer in horticulture, said: “He is a very bright little boy and a very good communicator and I wouldn’t say he is far behind his contemporaries.
 

“I thought he wouldn’t take it all in until he was about three.
 

“But he’s been amazing. He signs the vocabulary when we’re talking and is quite pleased with himself.
 

“It’s becoming part of every day life.”

 After almost losing her son when he was only seven months old, however, she said they were just grateful their son was alive.
 

Arthur stopped breathing four times after falling ill last January and had to be resuscitated by staff at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.
 

He was then whisked by air ambulance the 160 miles to Edinburgh's Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

The toddler spent a month battling for survival and on the day he was due to be released from hospital doctors dealt the devastating news that the meningitis had left him profoundly deaf.
 

Mr Russell, a 37-year-old registered psychiatric nurse, said: “I had him in the sensory room the day before and I called his name and he didn’t answer.
 

“There was a squeaky ball which was quite loud and he didn’t respond to that either so I had an inkling that his hearing might be impaired.”
 

But Mrs Russell said: “I didn’t take it in until we were back home.
 

“He was only seven months but you could see the confusion on is face - he couldn’t hear his brothers.”
 

Arthur was later referred to the Scottish Cochlear Implant Centre in Kilmarnock, where he had the operation to have the electronic implants.
 

He is the youngest person in Scotland to have the surgery at just 10 months old..
 

Children are not normally given an implant before they are at least a year old. But as meningitis can cause the hardening of the cochlear, or inner ear, doctors decided to act fast.

Mrs Russell said: “He’s been incredibly tolerant. He really has had quite a year.”
 

Arthur, who will be two on June 14, was the only child in the family to receive the meningococcal vaccination.
 

But his mum said he developed a different strain, which left him fighting for his life.
 

Recalling that day, his dad said: “When he was in Dr Gray’s I watched Arthur stop breathing and he had to be resuscitated three or four times.
 

“There was a moment there that I thought we were going to lose him.
 

“We were just surviving, reacting to the situation.
 

“It was a real traumatic time for everyone.
 

“But he is just amazing. He’s a real star.”
 

He said it was important that they learn sign language as a family, adding: “Arthur's deafness doesn’t define him, but it is a part of him and he will always be deaf so this gives him the best chance to communicate well with other people."
 

His nanny, Shona Beattie, has now helped to organise a nine-mile walk near Aviemore in aid of the Meningitis Trust. It takes place on June 13, the day before Arthur's birthday. Anyone wishing to sponsor Arthur can visit www.justgiving.com/arthurswalk