A nine-year-old boy discovered a disabled woman was about to run out of hearing aid batteries – so he decided to give her his own.
Little Charlie Rycroft learned Teri Young, 35, had the same specialist hearing aid as him but had not been able to get any batteries due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Single mum Teri was desperate as she only had one battery left, which would last for just two days.
Her GP had told her it could take seven days for batteries to be delivered – by which time wheelchair user Teri would not be able to hear her two small daughters.
Panicked, she posted on a local Facebook group asking if anyone had any batteries to spare.
When Charlie’s mum Tina saw Teri’s plea for help, he asked her if they had enough batteries to share.
Charlie said: “I decided to give the batteries to the lady because I thought it was important she should be able to hear.”
He put the batteries in a bag and wrote a note to Teri which read ‘Happy to share’.
Charlie added: “I felt happy and good that I had helped someone else. Everyone should help others if you can as it might make a big positive difference to someone else.”
Charlie has microtia of the left ear, which means his external ear has not fully developed and causes his hearing loss, and has had his aid since he was five years old.
His mum Tina, 32, posted six packets of the vital batteries through Teri’s letterbox just an hour after she first asked for help last month.
Teri said: “I was so relieved and grateful. You don’t realise how important hearing is until it is taken away from you.
“The prospect of having no hearing and two young daughters was distressing and worrying.
“I may or may not have actually done a fist pump in relief.
“Tina was so quick to deliver I didn’t realise they had been delivered already, I mean, it’s not like I heard the letterbox rattling is it?
“When I saw the note and realised Charlie had written it himself I smiled. It was very kind of him to help.”
Teri has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and lives with her two girls, aged five and six, in Bridlington, East Yorks.
Charlie and Teri both have bone anchored hearing aids which need special batteries.
BAHAs are screwed into the skull and use bone conduction to help the user hear.
Mum-of-four Tina lives in Flamborough, East Yorks., and works for the charity Microtia UK to strive to raise awareness of her son’s unusual condition.
She said: “I’m really proud of Charlie.
“He’s got quite a big heart and he has always been very willing to help others.
“He wanted to write a note so she was aware that she was happy to share them and he thought it would bring her a smile because she was stuck on her own with her children.”
Charities such as the National Deaf Children’s Society and Chloe’s and Sophie’s Special Ears Fund can post hearing aids out to people who need them during the lockdown.