EFFORT, MONROE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A family in Monroe County is begging for answers after their son’s pediatric wheelchair was stolen.
Meet 5-year-old Mikey Stipeck. He loves mickey mouse and his favorite baby Yoda toy. But his life has been anything but easy.
“Mikey did suffer a brain injury when he was very young. He was physically abused by his biological mother between the ages of 2 weeks old and 6 weeks old,” stated Collen Stipeck, Mikey’s mother.
Now he has trouble walking, something he works on with his mom every day.
“He’s amazing. Doing things we never thought he’d be able to do, stunning the doctors every step of the way. He’s starting kindergarten which is going to be another struggle because we don’t have a wheelchair to help him get on the bus and to transport in school,” explained Stipeck.
They don’t have his nearly $5,000 custom pediatric wheelchair, because it was stolen right from their front yard Wednesday.
Mikey had a blast Tuesday evening ending his trip to his brother’s blazing hot day football practice with a shower from the Polk Township Volunteer Fire Company.
So Colleen put his wheelchair right outside her front door to let it dry and hasn’t seen it since.
“It’s his main mode of transportation to get around. He can walk, but he can only walk short distances with his walker. Unfortunately, that’s something that has been declining over the summer. So to not have his wheelchair is almost like taking away his legs,” Stipeck said.
So for now he will use this little red wagon to get around, as his family reaches out to the community and state police for answers.
His family filed a police report with Pennsylvania State Police. A fundraiser has been set up to help Mikey and his family.