An Ely family was left devastated after discovering their home had been burgled whilst they were at the hospital bedside of their seriously ill 10-month-old baby.
"The thieves managed to get away with more than £5,000 worth of tools and equipment, some of which were still required to finish the house," said mum Caye Bream.
"And all this at a time when our family is in financial hardship having such a severely disabled child."
Friends have now come to the rescue of the family from Barway by pledging £3,000 through a GoFundMe effort to support them.
Caye set up the fundraising page on Sunday (January 26). It has already received 119 donations and been described as "one of the saddest things I've ever seen" by the crowdfunding platform's senior regional manager Dina Rickman.
Caye and Jason Bream's 10-month-old son Loki, who has spent over half his life in hospital being admitted for various conditions and will never be able to walk due to a rare spinal condition, was put on life support on December 23.
After visiting Loki in hospital the family returned home on January 15 to find that their specially-adapted house, which they had been building for the last 18 months, had been broken into.
The thieves had opened some of Loki's Christmas presents, rummaged through his medical equipment and stole £5,000 worth of tools and equipment.
Caye said: "This has been the most difficult time in our family's life, and we never believed it could get worse.
"The past year has been tough, but together we've managed to hold it together. This single act has destroyed us.
"The people responsible were well aware of the fight our family is in given all the medical equipment they went through."
At two-months-old, Loki - who has segmented spinal dysgenesis - suddenly stopped breathing and his parents performed CPR to bring him back. He was then air-lifted to hospital. Then, in June, he was admitted to hospital and put on life support.
"We were told that Loki's survival rate after the ventilator was turned off would be lower than a normal child his age," added Caye, "but Loki was a fighter and fought through the first critical four hours."
Loki's parents remained in hospital for nine weeks after extubating, making it one of the longest admissions to date.
The family managed to remain at home for three months - until he was admitted again on December 19, when Loki tested positive for RSV with suspected pneumonia.
"He deteriorated quickly whilst in the high dependency unit (HDU) and we had no choice to put him on life support for the second time on December 23," said Caye.
"Given there is no cure for Loki's condition, we made one of the most difficult decisions as parents - to no longer put him in a coma and ventilated as recommended by the consultants.
"We have no idea on timescales, so we have been advised to enjoy what we can and have plenty of cuddles."
Caye and her husband Jason were preparing to move all their things into their new home on the weekend of the break-in, in preparation for Loki's discharge from hospital.
She added: "After a tough Christmas and not so great start to this year, you would think it's about time something good happened to our little family. I'm livid how cruel some people are."
She said what hurt the most was that the thievs opened Loki's Christmas presents.
Having gone over their budget and realised that they can't replace the tools to finish the house in time for Loki's discharge, Caye decided to set up the fundraising page.
She said: "Whilst we are unsure how long we have left with him, anything raised will go towards making lasting memories as well as helping the charities that have helped us so greatly over the past year."
Caye believs that, because the house is built in a hamlet with only one way in and out, "the theives must have been watching".
She and Jason also suspect it was planned because "to smash through toughened triple-glazed windows requires more than a brick".
They believe a large vehicle would have been used because the thieves stole Jason's tools as well as a belle cement mixer. However they forgot the stand, two generators and garden equipment.
The break-in was reported to the police and the family is now appealing for CCTV footage.
To donate click here.
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