Police are on a mission to find and return a specialized stroller that belongs to a child with cerebral palsy.
The stroller disappeared from the outside of a home near 87 Street and 96 Avenue on Monday between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Natalya Gubanova said her elderly mother took her son out in the stroller and left it outside when they got back because it was too heavy for her to bring inside.
“We came home after one hour and we didn’t find the stroller,” she said. “I was confused. I thought just some neighbours’ kids took it to play so we browsed around the neighbourhood but we didn’t find it.”
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The EPS said the specialized stroller cost more than $2,000 and the family needs it for their seven-year-old son.
“Without this stroller, the child has to be carried everywhere,” Det. Ian Brooks explained.
“I’m hopeful, as a community, we will be able to find the stroller so the boy and his family can enjoy the summer months together.”
“I’m just confused you know?” Gubanova said. “Who has a need for this special stroller? It’s not the stroller you can easily sell to someone and get some money. It’s a special stroller that not many people need.”
The mother told Global News the theft comes at an especially terrible time for the family as summer has started and she’d like to be able to take her son outside.
“I don’t know how to take him outside,” Gubanova said. “We can just do some short walks on our wheelchair but to reach some parks and to go enjoy some nature, we can’t do this because this is a wheelchair with very small wheels.”
She added her husband is the family’s sole income earner right now and they just make ends meet so the special stroller was bought, in part, with contributions people made to a GoFundMe campaign.
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Anyone with information on the location of the red Adaptive Star – Axiom Endeavour 2 Push Chair is asked to contact police.
More to come…
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