{"id":9379,"date":"2023-08-20T23:39:04","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T23:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/?p=9379"},"modified":"2023-08-20T23:39:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T23:39:04","slug":"edmonton-family-reunited-after-pilot-returns-lost-teddy-bear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/edmonton-family-reunited-after-pilot-returns-lost-teddy-bear\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton family reunited after pilot returns lost teddy bear"},"content":{"rendered":"
A very well-loved stuffed animal is back home after a week of adventures with a foster family.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Four-year-old Madalyn takes Teddy Bear everywhere – to daycare, on playdates and vacations, and each night the pair sleep tucked in tight together.<\/p>\n
“I love him,” Madalyn said. “He’s so special to me.”<\/p>\n
Anytime Teddy’s been forgotten somewhere, someone has had to immediately go back and get him.<\/p>\n
But that wasn’t an option this time.<\/p>\n
“We boarded the airplane excited, the doors close. Lincoln asks for Little Puppy and Madalyn goes, ‘Where\u2019s teddy?’<\/p>\n
“And we\u2019re like, ‘Oh, no.’<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Madalyn Polturak is delighted to have her favorite teddy bear back at home. (Amanda Anderson\/CTV News Edmonton)<\/span>When they couldn’t, Madalyn wasn’t the only one in the family with tears in her eyes.<\/p>\n “He was my Teddy Bear first,” Vanessa said. “He’s a 37-year-old teddy bear.”<\/p>\n “It’s been in our family since my mom’s been born,” her seven-year-old son Lincoln said. “So for two generations.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “The next thing we saw was a picture,” Vanessa said. “And teddy bear was sitting on top of the pilot\u2019s WestJet bag, and were like, ‘Yes, that\u2019s our Teddy Bear!'”<\/p>\n Captain Henrik Ryan was the pilot on the Polturak’s flight.<\/p>\n He said it’s lucky he lives in Comox and was heading back home the next day.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n After some digging, Ryan found the toy in the airport’s lost and found and took it home for safekeeping.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n Over the week, Ryan kept the family up to date on Teddy’s whereabouts.<\/p>\n “And then the last picture we got was Teddy Bear in the cockpit coming home.”<\/p>\n The missing Polturak was reunited with the family on Friday, when they met Ryan at his hotel near the airport.<\/p>\n It was a special moment for everyone.<\/p>\n “She gave him the biggest hug,” Vanessa said. “And he’s like, ‘this just warms my heart.’<\/p>\n “There’s just not enough good in this world and this really gives you hope about the kindness that still is there,” she added.<\/p>\n WIth files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson.\u00a0<\/p>\nA lost teddy bear from Edmonton flew home in a very special seat after being accidentally left behind at a B.C. airport. (Supplied)<\/span><\/p>\n
‘MADE IT MY MISSION’<\/h2>\n
A lost teddy bear from Edmonton visits the Comox Museum while waiting for a flight back home. (Supplied)<\/span>“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.<\/p>\n
A lost teddy bear from Edmonton won best in show at a dog show while being cared for by a B.C. family. (Supplied) <\/span>“I got to reunite a kid with her very, very special teddy and I\u2019ll admit it was a little bit emotional,” said Ryan. “The girl was very happy.”<\/p>\n