A family dealing with a recent cancer diagnosis says a thief stole a Christmas laser light machine from their front yard this week.
The Lillie family, who lives in a home on East 71st Terrace, said they bought the device to help brighten their home for the holiday.
"Right now, my husband has stage II bladder cancer," explained Kira Lillie. "Usually, my husband gets out and puts lights on the front of the house, but he wasn't able to do that this year."
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As a way to chip in this holiday season, Kira's son, Elijah, pooled his money together so he could provide lights for the home.
"I gave her my $100 bill to let her pay for it," said the 15-year-old. "I just wanted to make my mother happy and keep her happy."
After celebrating Christmas together, the family said they noticed the device missing from their yard on Monday.
"My mom said that she noticed, while looking outside, that it was gone," said Kira. "Our Christmas is already dim. Whoever did this just made it dimmer."
Stunned and heartbroken following the crime, Kira put out a message to Facebook on Wednesday alerting the community about the crime.
Within hours, the family received numerous replies from folks around town willing to help.
"We have a lot of support behind our backs on that favor," explained Elijah.
One man, who works at a metro Home Depot store, offered to give the family a new laser light device for free.
Upon seeing all the support the family received, Kira said her family learned a valuable lesson through the heartbreak.
"People know that this is not the season to be greedy," she said. "Raytown is a great community."
The Lillie family did not file a police report after the theft and none of the neighbors reported seeing anyone steal the device.
By Wednesday night, the family had received the new laser machine paid for by a Good Samaritan.
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Tom Dempsey can be reached at Tom.Dempsey@KSHB.com.
