URGENT APPEAL: Vital medical equipment stolen from six-year-old Peterborough schoolgirl
Thieves broke into Nichola Dowland’s car while it was parked outside her New England home and stole her daughter’s oxygen saturation monitor.
Scarlett, 6, suffers from interstitial lung disease, meaning it is difficult for oxygen to pass into her bloodstream. As a result Scarlett relies on an oxygen saturation monitor to go about her day to day life, including attending Welland Academy.
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Hide AdThe theft took place in Boswell Close overnight between Tuesday July 18 and Wednesday July 19 when Nichola discovered the theft.
When starting the morning school run she noticed the boot of her car was open. Thinking she must have left it that way the night before, she drove to school, only then realising that the bespoke jute bag, featuring an illustration of Scarlett, had been stolen from the boot together with its contents, the oxygen saturation monitor, a handheld oxygen monitor, Scarlett’s inhaler containing her medication and the record book which is filled in daily by Nichola and the school.
Nichola said: “A community nurse has lent us another saturation monitor for today, but realistically she can’t be in school without the monitor, she needs to check her oxygen levels every two hours.
“Interstitial lung disease means Scarlett’s body is deprived of oxygen, so it makes it difficult for her to breath.
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Hide Ad“It was a shock as where we live is a quiet area, it’s a cul-de-sac, we know all the neighbours.
“To take a child’s medical equipment is one step too far, it’s heartbreaking.
“It’s useless to them, they can’t really sell it, the fact that someone took it just makes me so angry.”
Anyone with information about the theft or sees the monitor, owned by the NHS, or the bespoke bag, should contact police on 101 with crime reference number CF0410830717.