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DENVER (KDVR) – Car thefts have been on the rise since the pandemic started, and one Denver family fell victim to thieves when they could least afford it. They reached out to the FOX31 Problem Solvers to help spread the word.

Linda McGee was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in January 2019. She went through chemotherapy and radiation, and just spend 50 days in the hospital for surgeries and complications.

“This last year’s been really hard for me. I was diagnosed with colon cancer, I had the surgery. They got an obstruction in there, had to go back for another surgery,” she said.

“In and out of the hospital. This last hospital stay was almost two months long. We didn’t know if she’d make it home or not,” her daughter, Erika, said.

Linda did make it home. She was released from the hospital this past Sunday. The next day, her car was stolen from the Woodstream Village apartment complex parking lot, located near Parker Road and East Harvard Avenue in southeast Denver.

“I’m the one that noticed it. I got here because I come every day and I called her and said, ‘Where’s your car?’ She’s like, ‘It’s in the same spot.’ I started to panic, called the towing company to see if they had it, but they said, ‘No.’ It was stolen,” Erika said.

“I was crying. That’s all my transportation I have. It ain’t a fancy car, 1990 red Honda Accord, and I need it so bad,” Linda said.

Her car was taken from a handicapped spot right in front of her apartment building.

“Why take somebody’s car? Look how it’s impacting my mother. How’s she supposed to get to her doctor’s appointments? I don’t want her to feel bad or stress about things like this. I just want her to focus on getting healthy and getting strong. I don’t want her to be stressed out over her car,” Erika said.

The apartment doesn’t have surveillance cameras, so they have no idea who took her car, but they hope sharing her story will get it returned.

“She has such a pure heart, so for us to be going through this is like, give her a break. Why her? Why my family? It’s hard. We just want her to be OK. We want her to be healthy. We just want to keep her here for as long as we can. She’s my best friend. I love her,” Linda’s granddaughter, Meriah Villanueva, said.

Denver police have confirmed the car has been reported stolen. Linda and her family acknowledge that finding it may be impossible, so they have set up a GoFundMe to help raise money for a new car.

Anyone that has seen this car is asked to call our partners at Metro Denver Crime Stoppers. The number is 720-913-7867.