Donors chip in $13K to replace 6-year-old's missing wheelchair

Becky Klein was heartbroken when she heard the news that a specialized wheelchair used by a 6-year-old boy with special needs went missingtwo weeks ago. So she enlisted help in getting the $12,000 blue Quickie Zippie Zone replaced.

Klein, of Fargo, had never met Tyce Sauter, who was born prematurely at 29 weeks and lives with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. But when she heard that the boy's wheelchair — fitted with special equipment and custom seating — was stolen, she set up a GoFundMe page and watched the donations roll in.

"I thought about how sad that was. As a stranger I thought, 'What can I do to make it easier on them?' " Klein said Wednesday. "It took me 10 minutes to create it. I didn't have to do anything else. It was not a huge grand gesture."

But it meant everything to Tyce's mother, Kristi Sauter.

"An individual, who our family has never met, went above and beyond to try and find the quickest way to help Tyce get his mobility back …," she said in a posting Tuesday night on the Team Tyce Facebook page. "Our hearts are bursting from all the love and support shown to our little boy. We are forever grateful to everyone of you who donated, shared and prayed for Tyce and our family these past few days! A simple THANK YOU will never be enough to show how much we appreciated all the generosity you have all shown."

Klein learned of the situation last Sunday night after the family had put out an urgent plea on Facebook to get the chair back, and the message traveled far and wide.

In just two days, more than 170 people — friends of the family from Becker and complete strangers — chipped in with donations that ranged from $5 to $2,500 to buy Tyce a new wheelchair. As of Sunday, the campaign had brought in $14,075, topping the goal of $13,000.

As for the wheelchair, it was not clear when or how the expensive wheelchair vanished. On Jan. 15 it was reported stolen in Albany, but police in the small town in Stearns County said that it is possible the chair fell out of the pickup when Tyce's father drove between Sauk Centre and Albany on Saturday night.

A video reviewed by Albany police showed the boy's father at a gas station in Sauk Centre on Saturday night. The video showed the man going to the back of the pickup and lifting up a tailgate that had been open, but it did not show if the wheelchair was in the truck at that time, said Albany Police Chief Osvaldo Carbajal.

In Albany, police reviewed video of the parked pickup, which was not far from the police station. It shows no vehicles stopping next to the pickup or anything suspicious, Carbajal said.

"On our end, the case is closed," he said Wednesday. "We do not believe it [the wheelchair] was ever here."

Police in Sauk Centre said that they, too, are not looking at the missing wheelchair as a theft and suspect it likely fell out of the truck and landed in a ditch along Hwy. 71, said Police Chief Bryon Friedrichs.

"It really doesn't matter to me," Klein said. "Regardless of where the wheelchair is, Tyce is without it. It is a major expense to replace, so if the GoFundMe account helped a family in need, I am OK with that."

And, she added, "I'd love to" meet Tyce if the opportunity ever comes up.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768