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Single dad's van torched; donors rush in to help cancer-stricken family

Single dad's van torched; donors rush in to help cancer-stricken family

Gus Beck, a single father raising his twin sons in the southern Newfoundland town of St. Lawrence, says he's overwhelmed by the support his family has received after his van was stolen and torched earlier this week in St. John's.

Beck's son Damean Stacey-Beck, 7, is undergoing treatment for leukemia at the Janeway Children's Hospital and the family is staying at nearby Ronald McDonald House.

The theft and burning of the vehicle came the same week that Beck and his family received a travel trailer from a charity, so that they could enjoy fishing trips in the great outdoors.

News of the family's plight spread widely enough that, by Thursday afternoon, even more donors had stepped forward to make up for the loss.

The family will soon take delivery of a used van very much like the one that was stolen from under their noses.

Hectic appointments

Between doctors' appointments and raising Damean and his twin brother as a single parent, Beck said, things can get hectic.

So much so, he mistakenly left the keys in his van in the Ronald McDonald House parking lot Monday afternoon.

Beck was rushing to take his son to the bathroom after returning from an afternoon drive. "The type of medication he's on, when he says, 'I've got to go,' [he's] got to go."

Beck didn't realize his mistake until another parent told him the van was missing from the parking lot later that day.

"We called the police, the RNC, and they told me they were after recovering the vehicle and she was burnt," Beck said.

"I was stunned. I didn't know what to do, I never slept that night at all."

Despite the stress of losing his only vehicle, Beck said he had more significant issues to worry about.

"I had to get up the next morning and bring [Damean] over to the Janeway for blood work, and if his neutrophil count was up — that's his immune level — where they need it to, at 0.75, he could have his lumbar puncture done and his treatment," said Beck.

"The doctor told me we could all go home, so it made the day happy for me. I didn't worry about the van, just that he was all ready to go," he said.

Beck said parents who stay at Ronald McDonald House are already vulnerable, and shouldn't have to worry about thieves prowling the parking lot.

"I call them scumbags because there's no need. If they knew what they were doing, how many people they were hurting, they wouldn't be at that kind of stuff."

Wishing for more

Coincidentally, the family's van was taken the same week Damean was due to receive a gift from the Children's Wish Foundation. The foundation purchased a travel trailer for the family, complete with fishing rods and toys for the young boys.

"[I feel] on top of the world happy, really excited for them. I'm just as excited as what they are — and overwhelmed. Really overwhelmed," Beck said after receiving the trailer on Wednesday.

Now, because news of the robbery spread rapidly across Newfoundland and Labrador, the family will soon have a vehicle to pull the trailer.

"There was a business owner on the west coast who heard me on the radio and called and said he wanted to do something," Edie Newton, the Newfoundland and Labrador chapter director of the Children's Wish Foundation, told CBC News.

"He took it upon himself and he just ran with it."

Within hours, the man had contacted people across the province and found a 2009 Pontiac Montana van — a vehicle similar to the 2005 model that had been stolen and burned.

"They're pretty excited," said Newtown, describing the family's reaction. "It's exactly what he needs to be hauling a lightweight trailer."

Other donations were coming forward Thursday, including hundreds of dollars in gas cards, as well as about $500 in cash to help the family with its medical expenses.

Beck's torched van was located near East White Hills Road, an industrial area in the east end of St. John's. The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said investigators are hoping to obtain video that could identify the suspects.