Inverness Raigmore Hospital cake sale fundraiser in aid of Sophie Mason, a Highland girl diagnosed with incurable Batten Disease, hit by theft of donated cakes from van - but Tesco Inshes and others step in to save the day
Heartless thieves stole dozens of cakes that were set to help raise money for an Inverness family whose daughter has an incurable disease.
Sophie’s Story was set up last autumn by the family of Sophie Mason, who was diagnosed with Batten Disease (CLN1) aged just 17 months.
The devastating genetic condition has no cure. It causes progressive vision loss, seizures, disturbed sleep, stiff muscles, myoclonic jerks, loss of motor function, loss of the ability to swallow resulting in tube feeding and increased risk of respiratory infections. The disease is fatal and most who are diagnosed with it die in childhood or early adulthood.
Support for the family and for the awareness and fundraising campaign they have set up - Sophie’s Story - has flooded in since they received the devastating news back in November.
And the latest bit of support was a bake sale organised and held by staff at Raigmore Hospital on Friday.
But that event was almost derailed hours before it was held after heartless thieves broke into a van storing dozens of the donated cakes and stole them.
However, despite the theft highlighting the worst of society, the best of the community was also on full display - after kind-hearted staff at a local supermarket donated replacements at the 11th hour.
And now the bake sale, sweetie bags and a bonus ball event have helped to raise £732 towards Sophie’s Story.
Sheree Macdonald, who is one of the team working at Raigmore Hospital, said she had been left sickened by the theft of the cakes from her partner’s van in the early hours of Friday morning.
The cakes had been stored in the van in Castlehill Park in Cradlehall ready to transport to the fundraiser the next day.
But sometime between 10pm on Thursday and 6am on Friday unknown crooks paid the quiet cul-de-sac a visit and stole the cakes from the van, as well as money totalling £70 from the van and Sheree’s car parked next to it.
The theft resulted in the loss of dozens of cakes donated by individuals, and businesses like Krispy Kreme, although luckily planned donations from Harry Gow were not being picked up until the morning and so were not in the van at the time.
The loss of dozens of other cakes was still a bitter blow though, with Sheree saying: "I hope the [thieves] are happy stealing from a children's charity. Stealing is stealing, and stealing from a sick child is night and day worse."
“It's a very quiet street, it's a cul-de-sac, so you have to make a point to go in there to look for stuff.”
By some miracle her partner’s work tools, which were also stored in the van at the time, were left untouched by the sweet-toothed thieves.
But while that was a relief, Sheree said it was “heartbreaking” that people who had gone out of their way to bake and donate cakes had seen all of their kindness and hard work come to nothing.
One such baker was Woodside Bakes, which she said had donated hand-made gluten-free cakes which were then lost in the theft.
“It's so sad that nobody could experience and enjoy her cakes. It cost her a lot of money to make those cakes. It's just heartbreaking,” she added.
“The [thieves] didn't touch [my husband’s] tools - they took his juice. and they took the money and the cakes, but they didn't touch much else so that was a relief. In my car they just took the money.”
Thankfully, as well as villains, there were also heroes in this story, with the team at Tesco Inshes donating lots of Krispy Kreme cakes to make up for those stolen after they heard of Sheree’s misfortune.
She has thanked them and all the others who donated and offered their support.
The team at Raigmore’s Medical Admissions ward were able to raise well over £700 from the bake sale.
Meanwhile, police are investigating the van break-in and theft of the original cakes.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 8.50am on Friday, April 25, we received a report of a theft from two vehicles in the area of Castlehill Park, Inverness.
“Enquiries are at an early stage.”
Anyone with information should call police on 101.
