LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A 10-year-old Lubbock boy has received a new set of high-tech hearing aids after a Minnesota-based company heard about his story through a GoFundMe campaign.<\/p>\n
Malachi Garcia was fitted for the new hearing aids with the help of Dr. Arica Black at The Hearing Doctor Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Garcia passed his hearing tests as a baby, so his mother, Jay, and aunt, Bree, didn\u2019t realize something was wrong at first. As he got a little older, they had to clap or speak louder to get his attention. He was eventually diagnosed with profound hearing loss and fitted for his first pair of hearing aids at two years old.<\/p>\n
Because Malachi\u2019s hearing loss is progressive, his existing aids had not been helping as much, and one stopped working altogether. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s another reason why it\u2019s so important for us to get the hearing aids on him \u2014 is that whatever hearing he still has, to utilize that, because his ears know how to hear,\u201d Black said. \u201cHe\u2019s been wearing hearing aids since he was little, and we want to keep those on him and keep him hearing as long as possible to help him communicate best.\u201d<\/p>\n
When his family asked about getting new ones, they learned insurance would not cover replacements for several more years. They started a GoFundMe to cover the cost, and friends and family began sharing it.<\/p>\n
Starkey, a hearing aid company based in Minnesota, learned about Malachi\u2019s story and offered him a set of their newest hearing aids. Bree said the family didn\u2019t believe it was real.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept thinking like, well, if it\u2019s fake, it\u2019s fake, you know, and so if it doesn\u2019t go through, it doesn\u2019t go through,\u201d Bree said. \u201cI think it\u2019s awesome because you only just see about that and you hear about it, but it happening to you, it\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starkey reached out to Dr. Arica Black at The Hearing Doctor in Lubbock to facilitate the donation and get Malachi fitted for his new hearing aids. She runs an in-house charity called Help for Hearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to be able to communicate better with his teachers, to hear and learn in school, and then also be a normal kid and joke around with his friends at lunch and at recess and enjoy what everybody else does,\u201d Black said.<\/p>\n
The new hearing aids will also connect to Malachi\u2019s Chromebook at school.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, to him, I\u2019m pretty sure he\u2019s just like, okay, they\u2019re hearing aids,\u201d Bree said. \u201cBut once he realizes he can connect to the devices and it has a lot more features, I know that he\u2019s going to be like, \u2018This is cool.\u2019 And then he\u2019s going to show us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Malachi said he is excited and thankful for his new hearing aids. He has plans to become a drummer and work at Raising Cane\u2019s when he grows up.<\/p>\n
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