‘Tis the season for giving and it’s come just in time for a 20-year-old cancer survivor in Oregon whose prosthetic leg was stolen out of his car earlier this month.
In a matter of weeks, Atticus Root’s family was able to raise nearly $12,000, which is more than enough to buy a replacement for the device he’s worn since age 14, when his left leg had to be amputated because of bone cancer.
But no amount of money seems to have been able to lift the gloom Root’s been feeling since thieves broke into his car on Dec. 8 and took his prosthetic leg, his uncle said.
“This is a ‘he just can’t catch a break’ kind of situation,” Joshua Veldstra, told NBC News. “He seems to have a pretty good attitude, or at least he’s trying to maintain a good attitude about what happened. But it’s a horrible thing. I mean, who steals a prosthetic leg?”
Portland police spokesperson Mike Benner said they have no new leads. They are offering up to $2,500 cash reward through the Crime Stoppers of Oregon program “for information that leads to the recovery of a stolen prosthetic limb.”
“While this piece of medical equipment is worth approximately $8,000, its true value cannot be measured in dollars as it provides great assistance to a 20-year-old Portland man who lost his leg to a bone cancer,” the program said in a statement.
Root was 13 when he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer that occurs most often in children, teenagers and young adults. The cancer was located in his left femur and in danger of spreading. It forced the then-teenager to make a life-changing decision.
“It wasn’t really that hard of a decision to make,” Root insisted in a 2019 interview with the local NBC News affiliate KGW8. “It was either my life or an amputation.”
Not long after that, Root received the custom-made prosthetic that became a part of his new life.
“It was custom-made to fit his body,” Veldstra, the uncle, said. “It was made just for him.”
Root also has a “spare” prosthetic leg that he uses sometimes, but it isn’t as comfortable, and he also relies on crutches.
Earlier this month, Root went out for dinner with friends in downtown Portland and left the prosthetic leg in the trunk of his car.
Veldstra said he’s not sure why he went to the restaurant on the spare prosthesis. But when he returned, the custom leg was gone.
“They messed with the steering column and popped the trunk,” said Veldstra. “His leg was in the trunk, which got stolen with some of his work equipment, like his welding bag.”
The sad irony, Veldstra said, is that Root, who spent much of his teenage years battling cancer, was finally getting used to this prosthetic leg. It had a movable knee, a running blade “for exercising,” and made him less reliant on crutches, he said.
“It’s super important for his work too, because he didn’t have to use crutches and was able to use both hands,” said Veldstra, noting that his nephew is a welder. “But now everything is harder again.”
Veldstra said that neither Root nor his mother, Irene, were ready to talk about the theft.
“They’re both super upset about this,” he said. “My sister is very anxious about it all.”
Irene Veldstra voiced her dismay on the GoFundMe account her brother started to raise funds to replace Root’s stolen leg.
“I am fully aware life sucks, but Atticus was just beginning to feel better and get back on his ‘feet’,” she wrote. “He doesn’t deserve this. If anyone has any other ideas, we are open to them. And no, rental insurance doesn’t cover it.”
But as word of what happened to Root got out, the family’s friends responded. As of Thursday, there was nearly $12,000 in donations on the fundraising site.
“The family is very relieved and so grateful to everyone who has donated,” Veldstra said in a text message.
While the family now has enough money to buy Root a new prosthetic leg, it will take time for a new one to be made and fitted.
“I’m not sure how long it will take to fit a new one, but I’m guessing a few months,” he said.
