Torie Foort is a nine-year-old girl with a smile that could make anyone melt. She seems like a normal everyday kid, but her story is a little different.
Foort was diagnosed with Stage 4 Glioblastoma when she was less than a year old. She was given two months to live when doctors found a tumour the size of an orange in her brain. After going through three rounds of chemotherapy, Foort was sent home with her mom Cheryl and her dad Kyle.
The newly married couple was told their daughter had two months left to live.
"Two months went by, three months went by, four months went by and she seemed to not be declining. She was doing better. She was learning to sit up," Cheryl explained to KelownaNow.
The family went back to the hospital, Torie was put through another MRI and it showed that the tumour was still there.
Doctors asked the Foort family if they wanted Tori to go through another surgery to get the tumour out and they automatically said yes.
The tumour was taken out and it changed from stage 4 to stage 1. Torie was cancer free. Doctors called her a miracle.
Fast forward eight years, Torie is just learning how to walk. Every day when the other kids at school head to gym class, Torie goes to physiotherapy with her support worker.
She straps her personalized and specialized orthotics onto her legs and she tries to walk.
Except now she doesn’t have those orthotics. Someone stole them out of the Foort’s family van.
Kyle went to grab something from the wheelchair accessible van on Saturday morning when he noticed the van had been broken into.
"Immediately I asked about Tori's orthotics because yesterday when I picked her up from daycare I brought them home. I always bring them home on the weekends because we need to use them,” Cheryl said.
The orthotics were in a bag in the back of the van, but when Kevin went to look for them, they were gone.
"These are specifically moulded to Torie's legs. They are no use to anyone else. She's had them her whole life. They're useless, they're specifically specialized for Torie."
The orthotics go up to Torie’s calves. They are purple with butterflies on them and have purple straps.
Cheryl said Torie needs them to continue to improve.
"These orthotics give her the strength and balance and they make her feel safe. She knows when she's going to be doing physio and they're getting her to stand and take steps, kneel, she needs them. She doesn't have the confidence without them."
The Foort family will now spend Monday calling the company that makes Torie’s orthotics and explaining to them that someone stole the orthotics. Cheryl said it could be more than a month until Torie gets fixed for a new pair.
"This is going to be taking her out of school, it's me taking time off work and I'm going to have to find the time to do these appointments. They have to get fitted, re-casted, sanded out, it's such an unnecessary hassle for me," said Cheryl.
But, with all of this bad news Cheryl said she’s trying to stay strong for her daughter who remains cancer free to this day.
"She has an amazing sense of humour. She is funny and she's doesn't know hate at all. When people in the grocery store look at her and point at her, when the kids ask what's wrong with her, she doesn't know that there's anything wrong with her. She just wants to love everyone."
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