Apple Employee Lauded For Helping a Boy With Special Needs

An employee at the Apple store in Green Hills has been lauded a hero by a customer who had special needs.

LynnMarie Rink was with her 9-year-old son James in the Apple store looking for a new iPad. Apparently, James' old iPad was broken and needed to be replaced. His mom wanted to buy the new device as it was important to both of them, reports The Huffington Post.

“Because James was born with Down Syndrome, and at six-years-old was diagnosed with Autism, we use his iPad everyday as a learning tool,” the mom wrote in a Facebook post. “Sadly, even with a life-proof cover, after seven years of use, James’ first iPad was no longer working. We had replaced the screen several times and it just kept breaking.”

“It was obviously time for a new one!” she added.

While there at the Apple store, LynnMarie said that something caught the attention of little James and sent him running “at full speed” to what he thought was a clear passage going out. However, what the poor child didn't know was that he was running towards the glass window. He slammed himself hard, then fell on the floor.

While everyone was shocked at what happened, the mom quickly rushed to comfort her son -- who on the bright side had a “high tolerance for pain.” It was then at this moment that an Apple store employee came to the rescue.

“As I hugged [James] sitting on the floor [the] employee came over and sat down next to me,” LynnMarie said. “He asked if he was okay and if there was anything he could do. I think it was at this point that he realized James had special needs.”

LynnMarie told the employee, 23-year-old Andrew Wall, that they were going to buy a new iPad for James. However, as they were still propped up on the floor after James' bump, she asked him if he could set it up for them right there.

“And so he did,” the happy mom said. “[The] awesome employee sat with James on the floor of the store and set up the new iPad [for us].”

LynnMarie was so happy at the kindness that Wall showed to her and James.

“He didn’t have to sit down on the floor with us,” she said. “He could have easily waited for us to stand. Could have easily waited for us to come back another day. But he hung out with us in the midst of our pain. He even got a fist bump from James.”