While Peter Short was spending his final moments with his daughter Kira Monday night at Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, thieves were breaking into his truck just outside, stealing some of his precious memories.
Somehow they got into the Maple Ridge man’s 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee without breaking the windows and took two small polished stones he got when Kira was at B.C. Children’s Hospital. One was inscribed with the word “Hope” the other with “Miracles.”
“I kept them in my truck in my centre console.”
Kira, 6, died early Tuesday after fighting cancer for two years.
Short had parked his truck on the street outside the hospice, in the south Granville Street area in Vancouver.
Another treasure stolen from Short’s truck was a little message in a bottle from Kira’s step mum.
“My truck was completely looted. It was parked right in front of the hospice.”
“How much more can my family handle?” Short said Tuesday.
“Pretty wretched stealing stuff from a truck outside a hospice. I mean why do you think we were there?”
When he discovered the theft, he let his brother in law report it to the Vancouver Police Department so he could just go home and be with his family.
“It’s more the keepsake stuff that bugs me,” said Short.
In addition to the two stones, for some reason, the thieves also took some drawings that Kira did. They also took his sunglasses, extra clothes, about $80 in loose change, as well as a battery, a charger and an electric boat motor that he had been given in exchange for Metallica tickets he couldn’t use.
Kira had epithelioid sarcoma, between her C1 and C2 vertebrae and had been undergoing intense chemotherapy and radiation sessions since 2015.
He added the help and support from everyone means a lot.
