HOUSTON – The pain of a mother who lost a son is still evident nearly five years later for a local woman who lost her infant son. Now, it is being relived after the loss of the child's ashes. The search is on for the valued vessel that contains those ashes: the family teddy bear.
"Instead of a cold, hard urn, something that could break possibly, a bear was a better idea, a safer idea," Chelsea Cadenas said through tears. "And it was. It really was."
Cadenas's son Robert passed away in February 2011 at 4 months old from SIDS. The family from Spring had the baby's remains cremated, placed into a pouch, and placed inside a teddy bear nicknamed Bobee. And that teddy bear went everywhere with the family, a way to keep baby Robert close to their hearts.
"If he wasn't with us on a trip to the grocery store or the gas station he was in their bedroom, or on our bed," Cadenas said.
The bear went missing several weeks ago and the family has searched everywhere for it. What makes the stuffed animal distinctive is how heavy it is, its threaded nose and a zipper in the back to access the pouch of ashes.
Cadenas is desperately hoping someone will find and return the bear with her baby's ashes, no questions asked, to make her family whole for the holidays.
"I have pictures of him at Christmas," Sadenas said, speaking of her deceased child. "He has an ornament with his picture. And it's just reminders and I want those to be good and happy and not have to feel this loss like something's missing."
The family said the teddy bear went missing sometime between mid-October and mid-November. They believe it went missing somewhere in Spring area or in The Woodlands. They're hoping to find the teddy by Christmas or the New Year.