Toronto man with stage 4 cancer pleads for return of stolen rollerblades used to get to hospital
A Toronto man with stage 4 cancer is desperate to get the rollerblades he uses to travel to the hospital back after they were stolen from his car.
Joe Soares said he last rode his blades to Princess Margaret Hospital Friday morning. When he got home, he said he placed them in the front passenger seat area of his grey van parked outside his west-end home on St. Helen’s Avenue.
Monday morning, when he returned to the van to go back to the hospital for his eighteenth and final radiation treatment, he said the rollerblades were gone.
“Tears came out of my eyes, that’s how I felt,” Soares told CTV News Toronto Tuesday.
Soares’ Bauer roller blades with neon wheels didn’t come cheap, but getting them back isn’t about the money.
“[They give me] freedom, encouragement. Knowing that I’m 64 and I can do it. I show up at the hospital and they look at me like I’m crazy, you what I mean? It’s just a great feeling to have.”
Soares believes the blades were taken between midday Friday and Monday morning, and has filed a police report in the hopes of getting them back.
Toronto police said without any witnesses or video it can be more difficult to recover property. So far, no video has surfaced.
On the left, Soares can be seen in his rollerblades. On the right, he can be seen beside his van. (Soares, Beth Macdonell)
Police said when there is a break and enter officers may investigate further for fingerprints and other evidence to identify a suspect. However, Soare’s vehicle does not appear to have been tampered with.
Soares said it was obvious somebody was in his van. Items were disturbed and he found a coffee from 7-11 inside the cup holder.
Soares doesn’t know his latest prognosis. He was diagnosed one year ago and said doctors initially gave him 15 months to live. He hopes to learn more about his condition after an upcoming CT scan, but says he feels stronger than ever.
“I’m not dying. I’m going anywhere. I got to take care of my grandchildren and make sure they have what I didn’t have when I was a young kid.”
It would mean the world to him to have his rollerblades returned, he said.
“They’re mine. I mean, please give them back to me. That’s all I ask, somehow, someway.”
Since CTV News Toronto reported Soares’ story, hundreds of people have contacted him to give support and offer to buy him a new pair of rollerblades.
Soares said he’s grateful to everyone for their kind offers but simply can’t accept. He asks anyone who would like to help to donate money to Princess Margaret Hospital, the Hospital for Sick Children or another charity.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.