This story is ticks all of the emotional buttons for me. I found myself relating on so many levels with this story. Braden has hearing loss. He was diagnosed as a baby and has been able to benefit from wearing hearing aids. Hearing aids are really expensive. Each hearing aid on average can cost $3,000!!! The part that really frustrates me is, most insurance companies do not cover the cost of hearing aids. So when Braden’s family dog chewed his hearing aids, he realized how expensive they really are. He is fortunate enough to not have to worry about the cost of replacing them. However, he started to think about all the other people in the world who couldn’t afford hearing aids, batteries, or replacement parts.

I have had similar thoughts, to which I thought about it, and then carried about my day as usual. Braden actually did something about it!  He set a goal: to raise money to help only one stranger obtain hearing aids. Within 2 months of starting his GoFund Me page, he raised over $15,000! Oticon (a hearing aid company) heard about his efforts and helped provide the avenue to link the money with recipients. The money he raised helped provide batteries, hearing aids and other hearing aid expensed to several people.

To date his GoFund Me page has raised over $76,000. Cue the water works. What an amazing selfless gift for those recipients! I can only imagine the relief those families have felt.

This story has hit me especially hard. I have a degree in Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education. I have seen first hand how financial struggles have hindered a child’s ability to hear. Which in return only affects their ability to learn, grow, and communicate with others. The main thing I learned and realized from reading this story was, one person really can make a difference. It made me wish I had done something like this sooner. Thank you Braden for setting an amazing example to many others and me! We need to look out for each other and help lift one another up who are in similar situations.

Here is the story, found on Goodnewsnetwork.com