Ben and Ashley Blair woke up Saturday morning to find their family car missing from the parking lot at the Ronald McDonald House near Kansas City’s Crown Center.
“He looks around the parking lot. I looked around the parking lot, and we looked at each other, and we’re like, our van’s not here,” Ashley Blair said.
The Blairs have stayed at RMHC on and off for the last five months while their son, Drajten, received care at Children’s Mercy Hospital for severe heart and lung defects.

A Kansas family woke up Saturday morning to find their family car missing from the parking lot at the Ronald McDonald House near Kansas City’s Crown Center.

KMBC via CNN Newsource
Drajten was born on March 30th and has faced more health complications than most people see in their entire lives, including a diaphragmatic hernia and truncus arteriosus. Over the last five months, he has endured several surgeries and relies on a tracheostomy tube and ventilator to breathe.

“We didn’t know if he was going to make it past birth. We didn’t even know if we were going to make it through the rest of our pregnancy with him,” Ashley Blair said.
The Blairs live nearly 300 miles away in Otis, Kansas, and rely on their family car to make the four-hour-trek each time. But for their family, the car is like a home away from home.
“It still breaks my heart because it’s like they just saw a vehicle, and it was more than a vehicle to us,” Ashley Blair said. “We’ve definitely packed our lives in that thing for sure.”

Tuesday, Ben Blair received word from police that their van had been recovered and was taken to the city tow lot. What he found was broken windows, stolen car seats and tools, and an ignition cylinder that could no longer run.
“We’ve already got enough to worry about just with our son’s situation,” Ben Blair said. “And then you add this, and I’m just still trying to wrap my head around it.”
Ronald McDonald House Kansas City CEO Tami Greenberg told KMBC 9 a car of the same model was stolen from their lot two years ago. She says they’re now looking into added security measures to make sure the Blair’s is the last.
Now they’re facing at least one more open-heart-surgery, and no reliable way to get home.
You can help support the Blair family during this difficult time by donating to their GoFundMe.
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