Two siblings from Epsom were among the children from across south west London and Surrey to meet a professor who helped change their lives.

Brother and sister Jack and Amie Lundberg, whose lives were transformed by a 'bionic ear' cochlear implant, got the chance to meet the device’s inventor Graeme Clark at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, last Wednesday.

The first patient to have the implant at St George’s, seven-year-old Amie, and her brother Jack, 10, who had his second cochlear implant earlier this year, told Prof Clark how they had benefitted from his invention.

Amie said: “I am a special girl here because I was the first person to have the cochlear at the hospital when I was only three years old and I had a second side implant last year, I come to see Mr Selvadurai (director of the cochlear implant programme) every year.

“I have really been looking forward to meeting the professor and it was nice telling him that I am getting on well. I like my peach cochlear implant and I put stickers on it, and it helps me to watch my favourite films like Cinderella.”

Prof Clark said: “When I started as an ear doctor in the 1960s there was very little we could do for our patients.

“It has been a long journey to get to where we are today, but this is a wonderful. I always believed the implant would work, but I didn’t realise how well it would work; it’s has been the most wonderful surprise really.

“I still get tears in my eyes when I see what a difference a cochlear implant can make to someone.”

A cochlear implant is an electronic medical device that replaces the function of the damaged inner ear. Unlike hearing aids, which make sounds louder, cochlear implants do the work of damaged parts of the inner ear - cochlea - to send sound signals to the brain.

Prof Clark was at St George’s Hospital to open a two day cochlear implant course for surgeons from across the UK.

Since its cochlear implant programme launched four years ago, more than 60 procedures on children from south west London and Surrey have been performed at St George’s Hospital.