'He can't really walk or run': Regina family pleads for return of 3-year-old boy's mobility jeep

A three-year-old boy is hoping he will soon have his favourite toy back at home.

Mason Rogalski was gifted a special car to help aid his mobility in November 2021 after he was diagnosed with a brain disorder known as lissencephaly that causes a brain development delay.

“He can't really walk or run and the car was a big deal for him because there's something that he can do on his own,” Mason’s father, Darcy Rogalski said.

With his family in the middle of moving homes, the jeep was stolen out of Rogalski’s garage between Feb. 5 and 6.

“We're asking members of the public to give us a hand come forward,” Les Parker, a media development officer with Regina Police Service (RPS) said. “Someone out there knows where it is, and if somebody sees it, they can call Crime Stoppers or call us.”

The jeep provided Mason the means to move around and play with friends.

(Photo submitted by Darcy Rogalski)

“He's limited to what he can do, right? So he has to depend on objects like [the jeep] to help him do the things that everyone else could do,” Rogalski said.

The jeep was built for toddlers with mobility issues like Mason.

“You just push the button and it goes and he loves it,” Rogalski said. “It was something fun for him.”

The RPS said because the vehicle was specifically designed, it could be easily spotted.

“This makes it unique from other items that people aren't going to mistakenly see it. They're going to see it if they if they come across it,” Parker said.

Rogalski has posted the missing jeep on a local community page with over 3,000 shares and people offering to help replace it.

He hopes the jeep will be returned.

“So if they just come, dropped it off at the back, I'm sure everybody would be happy online to that, (that) they had this sliver of a heart to drop it off,” Rogalski said.