Koltin Glover: Bullies Throw 6-Year-Old Boy’s $5,000 Hearing Aids Into A Pond, Internet Steps Up To Get Him New Ones

Koltin Glover suffers a hearing impairment that makes it very difficult for him to hear pitches and tones, so the 6-year-old boy’s mom bought a pair of specialty hearing aids that cost a total of $5,000.

That expensive medical device has been wasted thanks to some neighborhood bullies.

A group of kids in Koltin’s apartment complex in Nampa, Idaho, decided to pick on the first grader, so they took out his hearing aids and threw them into a pond.

“I was hanging on the monkey bars and then another kid who was on the monkey bars took my hearing aids out,” said Koltin. “And then the other kid who was on the monkey bars dared the kid with my hearing aids to thrown them in the pond.”

The bullies made sure both hearing aids were destroyed, Koltin’s mom said.

“And another little boy ran up and picked that one up off the bank of the pond and made sure it got in the water as well,” said Amy Glover.

Amy tried to salvage what she could, putting the hearing aids into a special container to dry, but she thinks they are likely destroyed. The hearing aids were bought refurbished and have no warranty, and Amy’s insurance won’t cover a new pair until 2016.

“I cried for hours because I have no way of replacing them,” Glover said. “I’m a single mom on one income with four children. It’s just not any possible way for me to afford them.”

Koltin Glover will be taken care of while he’s in school, where he can borrow a hearing aid, but at home and on the weekends he will be on his own.

His mom is afraid of what might happen without the specialty device.

“We actually went one year without him having aids and he went from being in the 95th percentile for development all the way down to the 50th in one year,” Amy said. “So at this age, with him just starting school it is so important to his development that he has his aids.”

But many people have turned up to help Koltin Glover. His mom started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the hearing aids, and hundreds of strangers chipped in. Some have offered their help.

“Hello, I am a private practice audiologist that is a owner of Eagle Hearing, a clinic in Eagle, ID,” wrote one person. “Eagle Hearing would like support Koltin’s situation by providing all services free of charge. Bullying is not acceptable and everyone has the right to communication!”

[Image via KREM 2]