An elderly Toronto woman is asking the public for help to find her $20,000 wheelchair after it was stolen from a downtown store.
Dorothy Creaser, 81, told CTV Toronto the chair was stolen from a store on Dundas Street, at Church Street, on Tuesday afternoon.
The retired social worker said she was unable to bring her custom-made electronic chair inside the store, so she parked it outside. When she came back out of the store, the chair was gone.
Creaser said that she's on a fixed income due to a disability, so she does not have the insurance needed to cover the cost of the stolen chair.
"This is not just an almost $20,000 wheelchair. This is an 81-year-old disabled person's freedom," Robin Moniz said. Moniz started a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe.com, hoping strangers will help raise money to replace the chair.
"She is quite old but never has let that or her disability hold her back. She has never had much in the way of worldly goods but always finds some way to give and give to anyone who needs it," Moniz said.
There were also personal items in bags on the chair at the time it was stolen, she said.
Creaser is using a walker to help her get around, but hopes that someone will recognize her chair and help her get it back.
She also had a message for the thief: "What I'd like to say would be censored. I would have to say, 'Why on earth would you steal something from someone who is obviously disabled and needs the chair?'"
Anyone with more information is asked to contact Toronto police at 416-808-2222.
