A very well-loved stuffed animal is back home after a week of adventures with a foster family.
Vanessa Polturak feared the worst when her daughter Madalyn realized her beloved teddy bear had been left at the Comox airport on the family’s way home from vacation.
Four-year-old Madalyn takes Teddy Bear everywhere – to daycare, on playdates and vacations, and each night the pair sleep tucked in tight together.
“I love him,” Madalyn said. “He’s so special to me.”
Anytime Teddy’s been forgotten somewhere, someone has had to immediately go back and get him.
But that wasn’t an option this time.
“We boarded the airplane excited, the doors close. Lincoln asks for Little Puppy and Madalyn goes, ‘Where’s teddy?’
“And we’re like, ‘Oh, no.’
Vanessa said the airline crew was “fantastic.” The plane had taken off, but staff called the Comox airport to see if anyone could find the bear.
Madalyn Polturak is delighted to have her favorite teddy bear back at home. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)When they couldn’t, Madalyn wasn’t the only one in the family with tears in her eyes.
“He was my Teddy Bear first,” Vanessa said. “He’s a 37-year-old teddy bear.”
“It’s been in our family since my mom’s been born,” her seven-year-old son Lincoln said. “So for two generations.”
The family was sure Teddy was gone for good when they received a text Monday night, asking if they were looking for a stuffed bear.
“The next thing we saw was a picture,” Vanessa said. “And teddy bear was sitting on top of the pilot’s WestJet bag, and were like, ‘Yes, that’s our Teddy Bear!'”
A lost teddy bear from Edmonton flew home in a very special seat after being accidentally left behind at a B.C. airport. (Supplied)
‘MADE IT MY MISSION’
Captain Henrik Ryan was the pilot on the Polturak’s flight.
He said it’s lucky he lives in Comox and was heading back home the next day.
“I got the impression that this was kind of a serious matter for the kid so I made it my mission to go back to Comox the next day and check things out.”
After some digging, Ryan found the toy in the airport’s lost and found and took it home for safekeeping.
“I guess my wife and the kids took it upon themselves to, let’s call it ‘entertain the teddy’ while she was waiting for her return flight back to Edmonton,” he added.
Over the week, Ryan kept the family up to date on Teddy’s whereabouts.
A lost teddy bear from Edmonton visits the Comox Museum while waiting for a flight back home. (Supplied)“We were getting these pictures of all these adventures that Teddy Bear was gone on,” Vanessa said. “He went to a dog show and won best of breed, he went to a hockey practice, he went to the Comox museum.
“And then the last picture we got was Teddy Bear in the cockpit coming home.”
The missing Polturak was reunited with the family on Friday, when they met Ryan at his hotel near the airport.
It was a special moment for everyone.
A lost teddy bear from Edmonton won best in show at a dog show while being cared for by a B.C. family. (Supplied) “I got to reunite a kid with her very, very special teddy and I’ll admit it was a little bit emotional,” said Ryan. “The girl was very happy.”
“She gave him the biggest hug,” Vanessa said. “And he’s like, ‘this just warms my heart.’
“There’s just not enough good in this world and this really gives you hope about the kindness that still is there,” she added.
WIth files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson.