Community rallies around girl battling cancer after thieves steal car

A community has rallied around a family whose car was stolen while their 11-year-old daughter was at Children’s Hospital Colorado battling cancer for a third time. KoriRae, who was first diagnosed with Leukemia in 2007, was in from Fort Collins with her mother, Jennifer Tyler, at the time of the July 13 theft.

“It was gone, I was shocked,” Tyler told CBS 4. “I couldn’t believe it.”

They had been staying at a hotel near the hospital as they are scheduled to move across the country so that KoriRae could begin new treatments at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Surveillance footage captured two suspects breaking into the car and driving off. In addition to their vehicle, the thieves also made off with a stroller that KoriRae uses.

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“I want to be a normal kid and it’s kind of hard when they’re stealing our car and stuff,” KoriRae had told Fox 31 Denver.

Tyler had referred to the car as the family’s lifeline, as they used it to shuttle KoriRae back and forth to crucial appointments. A GoFundMe page was started to help the family with transportation until they found a more permanent solution.

Police in Aurora located the 2000 blue Subaru Legacy a few weeks later, but the vehicle was damaged and missing all four tires, as well as KoriRae’s stroller, CBS 4 reported. That’s when police reached out to vendors in the community and asked for help.

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“Obviously this is a very difficult time for this family with what they’re going through so we’re trying to do what we can to make this time just a bit easier,” Police Chief Nick Metz told CBS 4.

A local auto shop, MM Auto Reconditioning Inc., fixed the car, while someone else donated a new stroller.

“I couldn’t believe everybody just wanted to pull together and do all this for us,” Tyler told CBS 4. “It’s something I definitely was not expecting.”