A community has rallied around an autistic 13-year-old boy who lost his much-loved model aeroplane collection.
Kimmie Button said her son Lucas was devastated when he noticed the bag containing his 30 toys was missing.
After a fruitless search in Doncaster earlier this month, Mrs Button took to social media to ask for help.
While the bag has not yet been located, kind strangers have since donated dozens of model aeroplanes so Lucas can restart his collection.
Mrs Button, who lives in Doncaster with her family, said Lucas has had a fascination with planes for years and his diecast models meant “the world” to him.
“He keeps grabbing them out of his bag one by one, naming what type of airplane it is,” she said.
“They just mean so much to him, they bring him so much comfort, knowing that he has them.”
‘We’ve had meltdowns’
Mrs Button said Lucas was “incredibly upset” when he noticed the bag was missing on 6 March, just a few days before his birthday.
“We’ve had meltdowns for three days where he is punching himself, biting himself, crying, screaming, just not knowing what to do with himself,” Mrs Button said.
“To this day, he’s still asking every morning if I found his airplanes yet.”
Despite retracing their steps and searching the area, the family has not been able to find them, leading Mrs Button to post on social media to ask for help.
While the bag has not yet been located, Mrs Button said the community’s response had been heartwarming, with several people donating their own model planes to Lucas.
Lucas has so far received more than 60 model planes which Ms Button said had brought “a huge smile to his face” and left him clapping with joy.
“I cannot thank people enough,” Mrs Button said.
“Losing airplanes like that is really hard for an autistic child, I don’t think they realise how big of a thing it was to donate those airplanes to him.”
Anyone who locates the bag is asked to hand it in at Doncaster police station or get in touch with Mrs Button on Facebook.
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