Callum Jones
A devastated mum has released a desperate plea in her search to find a lost stuffed elephant holding her late son's ashes.
Liz Atkinson's son Gabryel suffered from a chromosome 9 abnormality and carried the beloved teddy bear with him throughout countless surgeries and hospitalisations.
Heartbreakingly, the seven-year-old passed away last year just days before his 8th birthday.
To mark his birthday, the family from Iowa decided to head to Florida with their surviving son Sebastyan.
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Also coming on the trip was the little stuffed elephant named Bruce.
Since their son's passing, Bruce has slept on Atkinson and her husband's bed.
Taking to Facebook, she wrote: "Bruce, of course, was brought on our trip and small bag of our son’s ashes were inside the pouch on Bruce’s back.
"The trip was a bit hectic with 3 different cities and hotels and grief brain kicked in at some point with all of the emotions, making me really struggle with simple memory tasks."
As a result, Atkinson lost the stuffed elephant, which had a small bag of her son's ashes in a pouch.
Now, the mum is trying to work out where Bruce may be as she recalls what happened during the holiday.
They stayed at a Cocoa Beach resort from 22-24 April, with Sebastyan holding Bruce during a parasailing trip on 24 April.
In an update to the post, Atkinson explained how Bruce made it to the car after the stay in the resort thanks to cameras spotting her surviving son holding him as he entered the car.
The family next went to Disney Springs, staying at the Palazzo in Kissimmee until 25 April.
Following that, Atkinson said the family headed to Disney's Art of Animation, where they stayed up until 30 April.
"Once we got home May 1 I searched EVERYWHERE," the mum wrote on Facebook.
"Every bag. He's gone. I've called each of the places listed above and filled out a lost and found form on Disney's page. No one has found him."
She continued: "I feel sick, struggling to sleep. I’m desperate.
"I never in a million years would've thought that struggling with grief would have impaired my memory enough to forget him somewhere and I tried very hard to make sure he was always in a bag or in my arms so this didn't happen."
The devastated mum is asking those on Facebook to share her post and to contact her if they have any information on Bruce.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677