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A YOUNG boy who suffers from a rare form of cancer had his dream holiday to Disneyland Paris marred by thieves.
Burglars broke into the home of Gazza Nelson in Radcliffe and stole the family’s spending money for the trip.
They also got away with £20,000-worth of personal items, including a bike, television, jewellery, computer consoles and games that had been wrapped up for Gazza’s fourth birthday.
Mum Alexis Roberts, aged 29, said: “The house was a total mess. They took everything — all my son’s birthday presents and £500 spending money.
“They trashed the house and ripped the fireplace off the wall.”
The family — including dad Gary Nelson, Terry, aged five, Chantelle, aged nine, and Kara, aged 11 — had just returned from a holiday in Spain early last week when they found their home ransacked.
Miss Roberts said: “We went on holiday for Gazza’s birthday because it’s been a tough year. He was too poorly to celebrate his last birthday because he was having chemotherapy. We’d had a fabulous time and the kids loved it.
“The children are upset because all their things have been taken and Gazza had no presents to open when we got back.”
The burglars used a ladder to break in through Kara’s bedroom window at the house in Spenser Avenue, between 8pm on June 27 and 4.30am the next morning.
They also stole the family’s Ford Fiesta, which was found abandoned and burnt out nearby.
Despite their distress, the family was still able to go to Paris last Thursday for the short Euro Disney trip, which had been paid for by the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
Miss Roberts said: “Luckily, the tickets were arriving while we were away so I had them delivered to my mum’s house.”
Gazza was just two when he was diagnosed with a rare muscle cancer which affects fewer than 60 children in the UK each year.
Doctors discovered a tumour during an operation in February last year and tests showed it was a cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma.
The family appeared on a TV documentary called Super Nurses for Sky One last year and detectives are investigating the possibility that the thieves targeted the family after seeing the show.
Supt Mark Granby said: “While they were still able to go away, their spending money was taken away by some cruel and heartless thieves.
“We now need to give this family some peace of mind and find whoever is responsible.
“I want to appeal to anyone who either knows who might have done this or has information about the burglary to come forward. What may be seen as gossip could be vital to our investigation, so please call us.
“I would also like to directly appeal to the thieves: ‘You have caused a family who are already suffering unimaginable grief even more heartache. Show you have some decency and give what you have stolen back to this young boy and his family’.”
Reported by the Bury Times. 9:58am Thursday 7th July 2011
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