After losing their son’s ashes at Disney World months ago, a devastated couple has repeatedly pleaded for help with finding the ashes.
Scattering a loved one’s ashes at the Walt Disney World Resort is a practice that many guests partake in, but is frowned upon—(well, if we’re being precise, it’s completely illegal)—at the Disney Parks. Disney doesn’t allow guests to do this, though many enjoy the idea of their loved ones resting forever at “The Most Magical Place on Earth.”
However, a few months ago, a grieving couple who had taken their son’s ashes to Disney World with no intention of scattering them lost the ashes and have been on a mission to find them ever since.
Related: Bringing Your Loved One’s Ashes to Disney World is a Terrible Idea
Grieving Mother Loses Her Late Son’s Stuffed Elephant at Disney World
About five months ago, Liz Atkinson took to Facebook to share a public appeal about the tragedy she was dealing with. Her son, Gabryel Atkinson, passed away before the family could make it out to Walt Disney World. The young child had gone through a large number of medical procedures for his condition. However, he unfortunately passed away a year prior to the family’s trip.
Little Gabryel had been given a stuffed animal—a stuffed elephant named Bruce—when he was in the NICU, and it was with him during every surgery and procedure he had to undergo. The elephant was a source of comfort to the boy, and after he passed away, the parents slept with Bruce every night as well.
When the Atkinson family took their Disney vacation with their surviving son, Sebastyan, they brought Bruce along on the trip, along with a small pouch of Gabryel’s ashes in Bruce’s backpack. However, tragedy struck when they lost Bruce and, with him, their son’s ashes.
At the time, Liz Atkinson took to Facebook to appeal to the public to help find the elephant. Many shared the post to help Liz find the elephant and be reunited with her son’s ashes.
Almost Five Months Later, Ashes Are Still Lost
The sad reality, however, is five months later, Bruce is still lost, as reported by WSMV.
“I remember Sebastyan holding him, but my husband got off the boat with him first and he’s the one that buckled him,” Liz Atkinson said. “Part of me just wonders, did it fall out in the parking lot, at the orange ramp at Disney Springs and we just didn’t know?”
“Bruce has been at every hospitalization,” Atkinson said. “There’s far too many to count. He’s been with my son at every procedure. My son that’s surviving holds Bruce and cries when he’s missing his brother…If I had all the money in the world, I would give it to whoever found him, honestly,” she added.
For those who are traveling to Disney World or keeping an eye out, here is the description Atkinson shared to identify Bruce:
“The elephant one has a long battery, but we had replaced it with a battery pack from a different animal and that battery pack is more egg-shaped. So even if someone removed the ashes, the battery pack would be a giveaway of it being Bruce.”
We at Disney Fanatic will keep you updated on this story and all the latest Disney news.
I hope you find your little boy ashes I will keep you and your family in my prayers