ST. PETERS, Mo. — Owen Armstrong usually spends July Fourth wearing a compression body sack, a weighted blanket and headphones to escape the holiday's loud noises.
His mother, Marion, said Owen likes fireworks but has a sensory sensitivity to loud noises along with ADHD and autism. His sensitivity means he often requires an environment with much less noise than Independence Day celebrations provide.
"The fourth itself is pretty hard," Marion said. "He doesn't want to miss the parade and the floats but we do the parade in the morning and that's hard because it's loud and it's big. We go home and we spend the whole day kind of recovering from the parade. Then we do the fireworks in the evening again with our whole case of sensory aids and lots of reassurance for him."
Typically, the family packs up and leaves after just ten minutes of fireworks, and July 5 has become a day of recovery.
This year seemed the same as before, until the family stumbled onto Mr. Whelans Fireworks in Cottleville and their collection of "silent" fireworks. Marion had no idea that this option existed.
Silent fireworks emit lower levels of noise, as low as 70 decibels, in comparison to traditional fireworks, up to 175 decibels, according to Fireworks Kingdom.
"Thank you as a child of autism this means that he can watch fireworks without all the aids and that's incredible," Marion said when she reached the checkout cashier, Susie.
As the family left the store, Susie ran after her with a handful of silent options for Owen. This kind gesture brought tears to Marion's eyes.
"I got you, girl, I got you," Susie said.
Owen can now enjoy the holiday, and fireworks, without his usual sensory aids or post-event recovery.
Marion vowed to share the moment with moms of children who struggle with loud noises, like Owen. Marion then shared this news with a mom group on social media and it went viral.
"It gets shared over countless times and has over 1000 likes and hundreds of comments," Marion said.
A Mr. Whelans Fireworks spokesperson said the response has been so great that, next year, there will be an entire section of "silent" fireworks.
"It's so cool," Marion said. "I cannot wait to see the families that get to come out when they're prepared for it when they've got enough stock because this year they bought a couple. I mean if you're in the fireworks industry you probably don't think your silent ones are going to be the ones that sell out right?"
Marion is excited to spread the good word of "silent" fireworks to people with disabilities and veterans who suffer from PTSD.
"I can't wait to see those people get represented especially the Fourth of July is supposed to represent all Americans and the freedoms that we have here," Marion said. "And this is another way to say we acknowledge you and we see you and you can celebrate too."
Marion viewed this coincidence as a product of kindness. She encouraged people to think about others and what they might need.
"We are so powerful as people, especially when we are kind."