A five-year-old Salmon Arm boy who calls his hearing aid his “super ear” is hoping to advance to the semifinals of Stan Lee’s Super Kid contest.
Kennett Woodhurst, who is deaf in one ear, is a devoted Marvel fan who loves dressing up as his favourite superhero, Spider-Man.
His mother, Rachel Woodhurst, said his enthusiasm for superheroes is a constant source of amusement.
“Most of our arguments are that he can’t constantly be wearing a costume, and we can’t always wear a Spiderman mask when we go places,” Woodhurst said light-heartedly.
tan Lee’s Super Kid is an international competition in which children compete for a chance to become a superhero character in a new Stan Lee Universe comic book.
The winner will also receive $25,000 and four VIP tickets to the 2027 L.A. Comic Con.
Woodhurst said she discovered the contest through social media and immediately thought of Kennett, particularly after the challenges he faced over the past year.
“We found out last winter that he’s actually moderately to to severely deaf in his left ear, and through working with Children’s Hospital, we found out he’s been that way since birth,” Woodhurst described.
She said that his hear was a bit unique and wasn’t sure if a hearing aide would help him.
“We wanted to try someone and you could just tell as soon as they put it in he had a big smile on his face, and clearly the world was more accessible to him.”
Since receiving the hearing aid, Kennett and his family have called it his “super ear.”
“He’s not ashamed of it at all because to him, he sees it as no different than how Iron Man has a bionic suit or that any of the superheroes have their special abilities from what they wear,” she said.
“It’s just another day being a superhero.”
Currently, Kennett is in second place in the quarterfinals of the Super Kid contest. The overall winner will also receive tickets to Comic Con in Los Angeles, CA, as well as receive $25,000, in addition to being featured in a new Stan Lee Universe comic book.
As a mother, Woodhurst said she is beyond proud of her son. “He’s a great little guy,” she said emotionally. “He works so hard and I feel guilty that I didn’t know for the first four years of his life that he wasn’t experiencing all of what the other kids were.”
She said he is more than deserving of this recognition for being so resilient.
“It’s really hard to go through a medical diagnosis, especially when the answers are not clear … and there are a lot of tests, you know he’s been dragged all over the province and he’s just happy to come along.”
Overall, Woddhurst said she is grateful to all of those who have voted this far.
“I’m not someone who typically reaches out in this kind of way for something that’s so close to home, but it’s been met with such positivity.
She said it is so inspiring and meaningful to a little boy be so loved.
Anyone interested can vote for Kennet on Stan’s Lee’s Super Kid website. Voting for the Semi-Finalists ends Thursday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.
