Hearing impaired eight-year-old falls and scrapes his knee during race and then the unthinkable happens
NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA: In a touching video, a little eight-year-old boy won his first 800m race despite falling and getting hurt just seconds into it. Eden Falk, a deaf student, was so thrilled to compete against his classmates that nothing, not even a severely scraped knee and stomach, could stop him from winning.
Adrian, his 45-year-old father, is heard in the background encouraging spectators claimimg that after falling, his son will be more motivated to win. The pleased father told The Daily Mail, "I know my son."
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As Falk rushes back on the track to pursue his classmates, Adrian can be heard exclaiming, "He will make it up, he will make it up." He yelled, "Go Eden," as his son started passing the other runners on the track. "He will be more determined, it's better. He will do it; he's a trooper," Adrian said.
The tenacious child didn't let down his parents; by the conclusion of the first lap, he was among the top three, and by the middle of the second and final lap, he had a significant lead. As his 40-year-old mother Michelle and his father gazed in awe, Eden held out one finger.
Eden, who was born with severe hearing loss, told FEMAIL that because he was so competitive, his hearing loss just motivated him to work harder. "If you have hearing loss you can do anything still, because nothing is impossible," he said, according to The Daily Mail. "When I'm older, I want to go to the Brisbane Olympics. I will be 18 by then," he added.
Speaking to the outlet, Falk said he felt free and relaxed while jogging. He remarked that he appreciated being "good at it." "I am very competitive and got inspired by watching Olympians Usain Bolt (Jamaica), Nick Symmonds (USA) and Steven Solomon (Australian Olympic runner)," he said. He was even able to meet with Solomon and that allowed him to pick up some of the legendary racer's racing secrets. Adrian credits the Shepherd Centre for his son's progress. The center specializes in assisting children with hearing keep up with their peers.
"The Shepherd Centre has been instrumental to building Eden's confidence and providing him with an outstanding level of support to enable him to communicate just as well as his peers, who don't have hearing loss, enabling him to attend a mainstream school and thrive," he said.
"We reached out to The Shepherd Centre who help kids from newborns with their early intervention program where he went for regular therapy sessions for five years. We wanted to get him school-ready and empowered to take on any situation that comes his way," Adrian said.
Adrian added that Falk was unquestionably "ready" and didsn't feel the need to alter anything about himself. He even chooses to wear extremely noticeable hearing aids in the colours of his favourite team rather than the "invisible" or clear version. He said that they use hearing aids the same way they would use glasses, and his son was delighted that they helped normalising things.
