Stories

Several families had been waiting a long time to get costly alternative communication devices that allow them to communicate with their child. Thanks to our partnership with Omar's Dream Foundation, their wait is now over.

Watch news coverage from KSBW to learn more about the heartwarming next chapter in their journeys.

Read one of the family's stories below, and find the rest in the Monterey Herald.

When Reid Dove turned one year old in 2014, his parents Anna and Jake noticed his speech wasn't progressing. "Reid began to babble like most babies, but it didn't grow to more than 'mama,' 'dada' and 'ba," says Anna.

Bringing their concerns to Reid's pediatrician, Anna and Jake learned their son had an extremely rare abnormality related to chromosome 9, along with apraxia of speech, a motor speech disorder.

After they moved to Monterey, Reid began seeing Courtney, a speech therapist at CCLLC, for both speech and feeding therapy.

"We could not have fallen into better hands when we were assigned Courtney," Anna says. "She is a huge piece to the puzzle in our search to understand our little Reid. Our wish is that Reid will one day be able to verbally communicate with us, but there's no definitive answer of whether or not that will be achieved," Anna says.

So when Courtney told Anna their family would be receiving a free iPad with software to help Reid communicate, Anna burst into tears.

"It was like an angel came down with a key to help unlock our little boy, whose voice is trapped inside," she says. "This gift brings hope. Hope that we will be able to help Reid's frustration with communication. Hope that this will guide Reid with the tools he needs to form language. He knows what he wants to say, he just physically cannot do it and that is the most heartbreaking to watch."

But Anna says her and her family haven't given up hope, and urges other families facing similar challenges to do the same. "It's a frustrating battle for you and your child, but it's a battle worth fighting."