Tablet stolen from Minnesota family contained last video of boy who died from brain cancer

A Minnesota family is trying to recover a stolen iPad tablet that contained the final images and videos of a boy who died last summer from brain cancer.

Topher Braddock, a jiu-jitsu instructor in Bloomington, lost his tablet when it was stolen from his business, WCCO reported. The device held the images and videos of his 12-year-old son, who died in June 2019.

“Someone broke in and they took the TV, and the music stuff, and the tablet," Topher Braddock told the television station. “And (the) first thing that popped into my mind is that the tablet was pretty important to me.

“I just kept thinking about that video and how it means so much to our family. We spent the last two years fighting brain cancer, and in June, on my birthday, he passed away.”

Braddock said his wife found the videos and photographs two months ago.

"We were in here and my wife picks up the tablet, and she says, 'Look at this,' and it was a video of Grey, and based on where we were, it was right before we found out he was sick," Braddock told WCCO. "So we put it back down, and I always knew it was there. It was kind of cool knowing that Grey was right there whenever I wanted to (see him)."

Braddock said the video was a connection for the boy’s youngest sister to keep a connection with her brother.

"His little sister was born during his fight for cancer, and she never knew him before that, and this was something that we were going to get to show her as she got older, and she heard about who this person was," Braddock told WCCO.

Braddock said he just wants the video back. While the theft has been reported to the Bloomington Police Department, Braddock said If the tablet is returned, all would be forgiven.

"If somebody saw it and they walked in and handed it to me, I'd shake their hand and thank them, and give them a hug," Braddock told WCCO.

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