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| Celebrities help replace stolen Plymouth voice machine | Celebrities help replace stolen Plymouth voice machine |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A teenager will get her voice back after celebrities helped raise £6,000 to replace stolen equipment. | |
| Miya Thirlby, 16 from Plymouth, has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and is deaf. She uses an adapted computer which helps her speak. | Miya Thirlby, 16 from Plymouth, has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and is deaf. She uses an adapted computer which helps her speak. |
| Her dad, Paul Johnson took to Twitter to appeal for its return after the machine was stolen from his car. | Her dad, Paul Johnson took to Twitter to appeal for its return after the machine was stolen from his car. |
| A host of celebrities including Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer and Dawn French shared the original post. | A host of celebrities including Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer and Dawn French shared the original post. |
| This led to a Just Giving appeal page being set up by Jamie Twite, which beat its target of £6,000 in less than 24 hours. | This led to a Just Giving appeal page being set up by Jamie Twite, which beat its target of £6,000 in less than 24 hours. |
| Former England footballer Gascoigne donated £1,000 to the appeal. | Former England footballer Gascoigne donated £1,000 to the appeal. |
| Mr Johnson said the thieves may have thought they were stealing a regular computer as it was stored in a laptop bag. | Mr Johnson said the thieves may have thought they were stealing a regular computer as it was stored in a laptop bag. |
| He said: "I'm not 100% sure the thief knew what it was but with the press and everything around it he must know now and where it is. | He said: "I'm not 100% sure the thief knew what it was but with the press and everything around it he must know now and where it is. |
| "For him to still not do anything about it is just heartless". | "For him to still not do anything about it is just heartless". |
| The original tweet has been retweeted more than 50,000 times since it was posted on 11 January. | The original tweet has been retweeted more than 50,000 times since it was posted on 11 January. |
| It included the hashtag #getmiyasvoiceback with thousands of people sharing their thoughts on the theft and fundraising. | |
| Former Paralympian and campaigner Tanni Grey-Thompson replied to the original post asking if she could raise the story in the House of Lords during a debate on the impact of social media. | |
| Many comments on social media talked about the "human kindness" shown through donations to replace the equipment. | |
| Kas said: "Whilst it's sickening that someone would do this, for every bad apple there's hundreds of good ones. £6,000 raised already for a replacement! Amazing. Faith in humans is restored." | |
| Mr Johnson said: "It has been amazing, overwhelming. Gazza is a hero of mine." | Mr Johnson said: "It has been amazing, overwhelming. Gazza is a hero of mine." |
| The machine has pictures of her father, mother Kerrie Thirlby and her twin Macie and it says their names if Miya looks at the images. | The machine has pictures of her father, mother Kerrie Thirlby and her twin Macie and it says their names if Miya looks at the images. |
| Mr Johnson had hoped it would not be necessary to start a fundraising appeal as he had hoped the equipment would be returned. | Mr Johnson had hoped it would not be necessary to start a fundraising appeal as he had hoped the equipment would be returned. |