As 13-year-old Daylin Campbell battled cancer, he was looking forward to riding the new bike his family got him for Christmas once he regained his strength.
—Russell Westbrook dedicates powerful win against Lakers to friend Nipsey Hussle—
But on March 25, his dreams of rolling along on his new ride, came to a halt when he realized someone stole his bike off the porch of his Lake Wales, Florida home.
“I thought, ‘Who would take my bike?’” Campbell, who was diagnosed with leukemia last May, told WFTS.
His mother, Canice Jordan, told the news outlet, “It has sentimental value.”
But, it was a Christmas miracle in March, when the community stepped in to right a wrong.
A friend of the Campbell family posted about the troubling ordeal on Facebook and asked the community to help locate Campbell’s bike.
Unexpectedly, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, a deputy and captain showed up at Campbell’s door with a surprise — a brand new mountain bike.
“Look what we got! Isn’t that pretty awesome?” Judd told Campbell in the now viral video.
Campbell looking shocked and at a loss for words, went over to inspect his new bike.
“We’re excited for you. We’re sorry you lost your bike,” the deputy continued. “We’d like to find out who stole it from you, but we decided to bring you a brand new one. And you know what? This deputy and this captain made that all happen.” They also brought him a helmet and a lock so he can keep his new bike safe.
His mother shared the surprise on Facebook, saying she never expected” the deputies’ to go out of their way for her son with a sweet surprise.
“The bicycle stolen was special to Daylin and held sentimental value being that it was a gift for Christmas while going through his cancer treatment,” Jordan wrote. “It was definitely not the [responsibility of the] sheriff’s department to replace it, but out of the goodness of their hearts, they did without being asked.”
Authorities also shared the video about the heartfelt donation.
“It just didn’t sit well with us knowing someone stole 13-year-old Daylin Campbell’s bike off his front porch Monday in Lake Wales,” the post reads. “This week we kindly received a donated bike and surprised Daylin with it to cheer him up.”
And the best news of all: Campbell is reportedly in remission from his cancer!