Losing your hearing or being born deaf can feel like a failure for a lot of people. And for one family, it was nearly an impossible hurdle to leap. So when mother Christina D’Allesandro set out to try to get her young son interested in wearing his hearing aid, she enlisted the help of superheros.
Anthony Smith, son of D’Allesandro, was tired of being different. Like many kids, he idolized the superheroes he would read about. And when his mother tried to get him to wear his hearing aid, nicknamed the “blue-ear” by the family, he rejected it. The boy pointed out that none of his idols wore the mechanism, so he refused to wear them. In a desperate attempt, Christina reached out to Marvel via email in the hopes that they may able to help her convince her son to wear the device that would help him hear the world around him. What she got in return was something totally unexpected.
Not only did Marvel receive and read her letter, they leaped into action immediately. Thus, the Blue Ear superhero was born, a man that uses his hearing aid to listen for cries of help. Smith not only was completely thrilled by the addition, he actually started to used his own as well. Marvel helped prove that you can use what feels like a failure to be successful!