GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Porch pirates aren't anything new; however, a recent one reportedly took a package meant to make a major difference in a young girl's life.
Dominique Purnell says her nine-year-old daughter, Nadara, had custom leg braces made. They were going to help her walk.
Now, they're left trying to figure out what to do next before her condition gets worse.
"I need my braces. I am very scared of getting Botox or surgery," Nadara said.
Not many of us think about it, but walking is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other.
"So, the braces are very important for her to be able to walk normally," Dominique explained.
For Nadara, her whole life, it has been one toe in front of the other.
"She cannot place her feet flat on the ground like most of us take for granted. She's been walking on her tippy-toes since she was a year and a half," Dominique said.
She explains that her daughter has incredibly tight tendons. A solution to fix that problem— gone in a matter of seconds.
"Shame on you. Shame on you for taking something that not only affects me, it affects my daughter. And, I just want you to know that that wasn't right what you did, and it hurts both me and her," Dominique said to whomever took the package off her porch.
The mother adds that she had to ship the $3,000 braces to her home on the southeast side of Grand Rapids because she lost her job a few weeks ago.
"I was so surprised that he took them so fast. It's as if he looked directly into the camera, and he just walked away into the night," Dominique said.
Now, the two are left scrambling, trying to figure out what to do next.
"I called her insurance company first and basically spoke with one of the representatives for an hour. And they're like, 'oh, we can't replace them. We are very sorry,'" Dominique said.
She says other options are surgery and Botox— both very expensive and possibly painful— to help her daughter flatten out her feet.
"These braces are very important for her development or else if she doesn't get them, she'll continue to walk on her tippy-toes, and her condition will get worse. So, they're very important to us. And, most importantly, to her because she's in a lot of pain. So, she takes pain medication," Dominique said.
Dominique says she has filed a police report with Grand Rapids Police Department.
Plus, a GoFundMe has been set up here.
