First he was on Ellen. Now Disney +. Find out why this Fort Worth boy is being honored
Braden Baker was 11 when he came into the public spotlight on the Ellen DeGeneres show in 2017 for his efforts to provide hearing aids for underprivileged children.
Now 13, Baker is getting ready for the spotlight again.
He is the focus of an episode of “Marvel’s Hero Project” on Disney +, a series that honors teenagers who work in their communities to improve lives. At the end of each episode, the teens are surprised with a comic book starring them.
And until they get their comic book, the teens don’t know the documentary about them is for the Marvel series.
“I felt so surprised,” Baker said. “I didn’t know that was what was going to happen, I was just told we were going to have a family dinner, and they were going to film it. I was just so surprised that so many people were there.”
DeGeneres gave Baker $20,000 for his charitable efforts in 2017, allowing him to go to Guatemala and Zambia to provide hearing aids to children. Since Baker started his fundraising efforts, he said, he’s raised more than $140,000 to deliver hearing aids to kids here and abroad.
Baker said he’s been on two trips to Guatemala and has a third mission trip planned for February.
“There’s a huge need there in Guatemala,” Baker said. “I only know of one audiologist in the whole country.”
Audiologists, who Baker said are the real heroes in his story along with donors, are healthcare professionals licensed to diagnose and prescribe treatment for hearing disabilities.
Baker, who was born with 75% hearing loss, does almost all his work with those hearing professionals.
From Hearing the Call, a nonprofit dedicated to helping children in need receive care for hearing impairments, to working with three audiologists who provide hearing aids for kids in Fort Worth schools, Baker said the mission is to get a hearing aid to every kid in need around the world.
He hopes this episode of “Marvel’s Hero Project” will further that mission.
Baker’s efforts have already received wide support, including from the Fort Worth company Eosera, which makes products aimed at clearing excessive earwax buildup.
“A lot of kids on our missions think they have a hearing impairment but they don’t,” Baker said. “They just have a buildup of earwax.”
The company’s donation of $10,000 in products helps Baker and his partners treat those issues, as well.
Baker was so excited about the episode of “Marvel’s Hero Project,” he said Thursday he planned to stay up until the episode became available on the streaming service, whether that was midnight or 6 a.m.
“It’s probably the biggest thing that’s ever happened to me,” Baker said. “It’s huge.”