"She's 21 months old. She has Stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. It's really rare and really aggressive," said mother Hailey Allen, who shares a similar name with her daughter.
The Allens live in Warner Robbins, Georgia, so they decided to stay at the Sheraton in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday night, so they could make it on time to Hailey Holder's 7 a.m. oncology appointment.
As they got ready to leave the hotel to make the doctor’s appointment the next morning, they discovered someone had smashed the window of their SUV.
Hailey Holder’s medications and other sentimental items that were inside her father’s backpack were gone.
“His book bag contains our daughter’s beads of courage that are staples through a child’s cancer journey. Anytime they have a transfusion, an overnight stay, chemo, they get a bead representative of that,” Hailey Allen said.
Also in the book bag was a tile tracking device. Hailey Holder’s mom said it pinged from a home in South Fulton.
“Atlanta PD told him we would have to go to the house, call 911,” Hailey Allen said.
The family said a South Fulton police officer met them at the home, but the man inside wouldn’t cooperate.
"What did the officer say to you?" WSB-TV's Christian Jennings asked.
“That he didn’t have a warrant and that you couldn’t just bust into his house,” Hailey Allen said.
The Allens are left frustrated without their daughter's priceless belongings.
“She has a 20 percent chance of making it to age 4 and I think that’s the toughest thing for me as her mom. There are things in that book bag that mean so much to me,” Hailey Allen said.
South Fulton police sent WSB-TV the following statement:
“We have reached out to Mr. Blake Holder to obtain further information to determine what transpired regarding this incident. The safety of our citizens and visitors who come through our city is paramount. We sincerely wish Mr. Holder’s daughter a speedy recovery during her ongoing treatment. We regret that his family was inconvenienced due to this crime that occurred in the City of Atlanta and continued into our jurisdiction.
"We are currently conducting an internal investigation to determine the officer’s actions and provide any corrective measures or training to prevent similar instances happening in the future when crimes cross into different jurisdictions as such. We are also working with the Atlanta Police Department to attempt to identify suspects in this case.”
The Atlanta Police Department sent the following statement:
“Our understanding is that the victims in this case were able to track a stolen item to an address outside of the City of Atlanta. They solicited the assistance of local police, but were not successful in recovering any stolen goods. Our investigators are aware of the family’s attempts to trace the items, and are actively following up to see if their stolen property can be recovered and the responsible parties be held accountable.”
Here's more about Hailey Holder's story and how you can donate.
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