His deafness started 25 years ago, and by the early 1990s everything had gone quiet. Car rides with his wife were trips of isolation, and work became eight hours of frustration.

What is it like to have your love of reading stolen by blindness?

Ask Molly Sundelin. The 82-year-old Barrington native lived a quiet life in her second-floor apartment, reading books and filling in crossword puzzles. But a year ago her eyesight vanished — the byproduct of other medical complications. Her world faded into darkness, void of sunsets, crosswords and her favorite mystery novels.

But then, like fantastic endings to Hollywood movies, Mr. Lawrence and Ms. Sundelin were each given second chances.

Through relatively new surgical procedures, both Barrington residents had their senses completely restored, their pains eased and their lives returned to what they once were.

I was blind but now I see
For 82 years, Molly Sundelin has called a white two-story house on Maple Avenue her home. Inside its walls she grew up, spent time with friends and family, and in recent years read dozens of mystery novels.

Her husband passed away when she was 58, so Ms. Sundelin turned to a more reserved lifestyle in her home. She cooked and cleaned and occasionally watched television. Most of her time, however, was spent with her books. She loved reading and completing crosswords, but that became difficult about a year ago.

She was having some medical problems with her stomach, which led to a complete loss of feeling in her legs. Doctors operated and solved her abdominal problems, but as mobility in her legs returned her eyesight began to fade.

"I couldn't read anymore. Even with a magnifying glass I couldn't see the books," she said. "My cousins had to come help me with my bills. I couldn't fill out my checks."

The blindness worsened. She couldn't see out her windows and couldn't read street signs when her cousin would take her to the market. She became more and more nervous and didn't like what her doctors were telling her. They said she would likely lose her eyesight completely.

She went for a second opinion and received some good news. Dr. Ezra L. Galler said he could return vision to her left eye, that her macular degeneration hadn't progressed too far. She quickly agreed to the surgery.

"Coming home from the operation I could see every sign. I knew where I was going," she said. "I could read the numbers on the houses. I had been blind, but now I could see. It was a miracle."

She celebrated by singing "Amazing Grace," around "a hundred times," she said.

"For nine months I was blind. I couldn't see into the back yard," she said. "I could just about sign my name. Now, now I can see again."

I was deaf but now I hear
It was a case of too much noise and too much pride. Mr. Lawrence, owner of Lawrence Air Systems, spent years installing and repairing heating and ventilation units in noisy mills and workshops. But a "Superman mentality" to work without ear protection took its toll.

Over the years the words started to fade into the background noise. He struggled to keep up his end of conversations, and around 10 years ago the silence took over completely.

His deafness affected every aspect of his life. Unable to read lips while he drove, car rides with his wife became empty hours. He stopped going dancing with his wife, stopped going to the movies, plays, concerts. Family parties became painful experiences.

Work was even worse. Mr. Lawrence employs his three sons and leaned on all of them. Brian, Jason and Aaron made phone calls for their father, translated conversations with clients and couldn't help from getting frustrated.

"I was the guy who was always working with him," Jason said, "so we always rode together, not talking. It's tough when you can't communicate. It makes everything really tough. We had our own sign language-thing going. It was homemade."

Mr. Lawrence tried hearing aids — plenty of them — but they all failed. For two weeks he'd use them and then throw them into a desk drawer when finally he became so angered with their inability to cure his deafness.

The low point came on Dec. 27, 2003. Mr. Lawrence had imagined what his daughter's wedding would be like, especially the father-daughter dance, but deafness turned his special moment sour.

"She picked a song for the dance with me and I couldn't hear anything," he said. "I told her she was going to have to lead. I couldn't even hear the beat."

The frustration continued for another few months, only broken by a phone call from Mr. Lawrence's primary care physician. He suggested a Cochlear Implant, where a small device was placed between the skin and the skull on the back of the head. A small receptor was placed inside the ear, replacing damaged anatomy.

Mr. Lawrence had the surgery in Worcester, Mass., by Dr. Daniel J. Lee, and he noticed the results two weeks later.

"The audiologist went through these tones, and then she said 'Can you hear me?' I heard it as clear as a bell. My wife started talking to me, and I could hear her. She was bawling her eyes out," Mr. Lawrence said.

The return of sound has been music to everyone's ears.

"It's unbelievable," Jason said. "He can hear the grandkids. I mean, I have three kids he'd never heard before."

"It's true," Mr. Lawrence said. "Brandon (Jason's 8-year-old son) was talking to me and I was talking back. He just stopped and he hugged me. He knew that that's how it was going to be from now on."

By Josh Bickford