Family Misplaces Son’s Ashes in Toy Elephant at Disney World

Family Misplaces Son’s Ashes in Toy Elephant at Disney World

A heartbreaking story is circulating the web right now. While visiting Disney World, a family misplaced a toy elephant with their son’s ashes.

The Atkinson family was visiting Disney World from Iowa. They had with them a stuffed elephant that belonged to their late son Gabryel. That elephant, named Bruce, was with Gabryel for over 50 surgical procedures and he slept with it every night. Since his passing, his parents have kept Bruce with them every night.

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They took their surviving son, Sebastyan, on a trip to Florida and Disney World to honor Gabryel on his birthday. Somewhere along the way, Bruce was lost along with a small bag of Gabryel’s ashes.

Gabryel’s mother, Liz, posted on Facebook asking for help in finding the misplaced elephant. “The trip was a bit hectic with 3 different cities and hotels and grief brain kicked in at some point with all of the emotions, making me really struggle with simple memory tasks,” she wrote.

The family visited multiple places while vacationing in Florida. They first stayed at the Beachside Resort in Cocoa Beach from April 22 to April 24 where they also went parasailing. They know Bruce was with Sebastyan at that point. From there, things get hazy.

“This is where the trip gets hazy in my memory due to emotions and grief,” Atkinson said. “Thinking back, I don’t recall Sebastyan bringing him back to our vehicle.”

They next visited Disney Springs on April 24 and then moved to the Palazzo in Kissimmee until April 25. After that they were at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort through April 30. When they got to their Disney resort, they realized the elephant was missing.

“Because vehicles get messy on trips, I kept thinking maybe he was just mixed in somewhere (very unlike me, I know where everything is 100% of the time even on trips, thank you grief) but once we got home May 1 I searched EVERYWHERE,” Liz wrote. “Every bag. He’s gone.”

Liz filled out lost and found forms and called every location they visited while in Florida with no luck.

We are wanting to help spread the word about Bruce the elephant and hope someone finds him and returns him to the Atkinson family! If you have any information that can help, contact Liz on Facebook.

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