Indiana police are looking for the thief who stole a pair of cochlear implants from a deaf four-year-old boy.
A cochlear implant is:
“…an electronic medical device that does the work of damaged parts of the inner ear (cochlea) to provide sound signals to the brain.“
This video shows how these amazing devices work:
Four-year-old Sora Coate in Columbus, Indiana, received two of these devices this week. He already had one in his right ear, but he had just received the one for his left ear.
That night, someone broke into the family’s car and stole the backpack that had both devices inside of it.
Sora’s mom, Laura Coate said:
“He was given the gift to be able to hear just earlier that day, and that night, they all got taken. My heart is broken for him.”
The thief probably did not know what was in the bag, but this makes the crime no less disgusting. They were fitted for the boy’s ears, so they would not be useful to anyone else.
The mother drove the boy home after receiving the device. Sora had a long day that day, so the mother took the boy inside first to take care of him.
The box and backpack full of equipment and accessories were left inside the car. When Ms. Coate came out of her apartment the next morning, the car had been broken into and the equipment was gone.
The parts for the implant are worth over $1,000. Columbus police Lt. Matt Harris said:
“It’s heartbreaking. This item is of absolutely no value to them. But it means everything to this little boy.”
Sora’s mom said that she doesn’t even care who took it. She just wants her son to be able to hear. He was born deaf in both ears, and he’s autistic. This equipment would let this boy be able to hear. She even offered to pick it up anonymously.
For news coverage about this story, see the video below:
https://youtu.be/ADRvc4M3zIo
Featured image via YouTube screengrab.
