{"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

\"\"A 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

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

\"\"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

“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

\"\"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

“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>\n

Originally Appeared Here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,5015],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9380,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9379\/revisions\/9380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmontondailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}