There’s nothing harder for parents than watching their children struggle. That’s why Anna and Will Esler of Amarillo, Texas were devastated when doctors told them that their 1 year-old daughter Ayla was deaf.

Doctors figured this out after Ayla failed a hearing tests, and they then broke the news to her parents.

“It was determined that she had profound hearing loss,” Anna said. She explained that she was saddened by the news because she worried about all the challenges that Ayla would face in the future. Doctors warned that Ayla would likely never be able to speak, so Anna and Will scrambled to find her the best medical care possible to try and make her situation better for her.

That’s what led them to Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. This hospital is known for helping children who suffer from hearing loss, and though it was five hours from the Esler home, it was well worth the trip for them.

“This surgery is literally going to change her life,” Anna said. “It will open doors that would’ve been closed.”

This surgery was a four-hour operation that would implant a cochlear device in both of Ayla’s ears.

Though the surgery was a success, doctors needed to give Ayla time to recover before they could finally turn on the implants. This huge moment finally came on June 19, and Ayla’s reaction was priceless!

“We like to have kids early because when we do that, we find that those kids aren’t delayed in speech, language, and learning and they compete with all their other hearing peers,” said Cook Children’s Hospital audiologist Lisa Christensen.

In a heartwarming video that has since gone viral, Ayla reacts to hearing the world around her for the first time by immediately breaking into a dance!

“When I saw her happy and dancing and responding to sound for the first time in her life I just lost it because we’ve been waiting a long time for that,” Anna said.

Will is just as happy about this as his wife is!

“She calmed down this morning when I was singing to her,” Will said. “It was pretty special.”

Doctors believe that Ayla will now be able to hear as well as any other child, meaning she will have a normal life!

“To actually see that happen, to see her hearing and to know she was hearing, it was just amazing,” Will said.

Check out the heartwarming video below, and SHARE this story so your friends and family can see this as well!