Age 3 Boy Who Can't Speak Has iPad Stolen. Surprise From Bakery Gives Him 'Voice' Back
Three-year-old Hunter Jerrier has Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by “short stature, moderate to severe intellectual disability, distinctive facial features, and broad thumbs and first toes.”
The syndrome has left Hunter unable to speak, so he uses an iPad to communicate with his family. The iPad contains countless programs to tell his family what he needs.
But a seemingly normal trip to a bakery would change everything. When his family accidentally forgot the device on the counter, it was stolen within a matter of minutes.
Needless to say, the Jerriers were devastated. The only way they could communicate with their son had been heartlessly ripped away from them.
“As a grown, 40-year-old man it made me cry, it was my fault because I put it down – I felt like I let him down because it’s the only way he can communicate with us,” his dad Brian said.
The family began to believe they would never see the device again. But less than a day after the incident, they received a call from White’s Bakery where they’d lost it.
What the manager said next blew them away: the bakery wanted to pay for a brand new iPad for Hunter.
“There are still good people out there that, in a really crummy situation, made it easier for him, easier for us and did it so quickly,” Hunter’s mom Amanda said.
The family is extremely grateful for the generosity of the bakery employees.
“I’m sure whoever took it didn’t realize how important it was to Hunter and how important it was to us,” Amanda said.
“I’m beyond thankful for what they have done,” Brian said. “They didn’t have to. Hopefully whoever it was will realize what they did.”
Now they hope the thief will come clean to right their wrong.
“Whoever it was, you didn’t just steal an iPad, you stole his voice. Without a voice, how would you feel.”
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