EDMONTON – It’s been a tough few weeks for Alycia Dunlap but things turned around for the young mom on Monday.
Three weeks ago, her fiance suffered kidney failure and was transported from their home in Grande Prairie to an Edmonton hospital. Dunlap has been by his side everyday to face a difficult diagnosis of a rare autoimmune disease.
The couple has a seven-month-old baby. Dunlap is currently on maternity leave and her fiance is unable work while he undergoes treatment.
“It’s been like we’re fighting an uphill battle,” she said Saturday.
As if all of that wasn’t stressful enough, a few days ago, Dunlap lost her engagement ring.
But the kindness of strangers turned things around on Monday when her ring was returned. Someone dropped it off at hospital security, no questions asked. Dunlap was overjoyed by the news, thanking Global Edmonton for sharing her story.
“The nurses have asked me to be extra cautious with washing my hands and stuff because (with) the medications he’s on, he can get sick very easily so I’ve been removing my jewelry to wash my hands,” she told Global News last week while she was looking for her ring.
On March 10, Dunlap had used a bathroom at Royal Alexandra Hospital to change her daughter and wash her hands before entering her fiance’s room. That’s when she removed her ring and left it on the counter in a cafeteria bathroom. Moments later, she realized what she had done and returned to the bathroom to get it.
“I ran back there and it was gone,” Dunlap said. “The nurses helped me search the garbage cans, we looked everywhere. It couldn’t have fit down the drain– so we definitely know someone had picked it up.”
Dunlap has reported it missing on several websites as well as with Edmonton police. She’s pleading with whoever took it to just return it, no questions asked.
“I just hope I get it back,” she said. “I didn’t really have my head on straight. I was juggling a bunch of bags and a baby. If I could do it over and have the ring back, I wouldn’t take it off.”
The diamond solitaire is over half a karat and has an 18-karat white gold band.
“The most painful thing would definitely have to be the fact my fiance used my daughter to help in the proposal about six months ago and so I think the sentimental value of the ring for sure, and to top it all off with my fiance being very sick, me on mat leave – we can’t afford to replace it right now,” she said. “It would be very nice if whoever did find it would step forward and just give it back to me or the hospital.”
*EDITOR’S NOTE: this article was originally published at 9:43 p.m. on Mar 13 and was updated at 6:42 p.m. on Mar 14 to add the information regarding the ring being returned.
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